Stolen
by weiss-weiss-baby
Summary: Prev. called The Last Ep of the Mighty Chipmunk. When Manticore finds Jondy and Zane, mistakes they made in the past may put their son in danger.
1. The Where and the How

A/N: I didn't get to write what the story was about on the summery bit, so instead I'll do it here. It's centered on Jondy and Zane, they're married and they have a three year old boy called Corey. Manticore is after them ( or so they think ) and Zane gets recaptured. Jondy's past catches up with her and it might lead to the death of Corey. It all has something to do with Max and Ames White in the end, but I'm not going to tell you how. You gotta read for yourself! Please read and review, as you probably know it's very encouraging!  
  
DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee but their personalities belong to me. Oh, and Corey and Tyra belong to me too...all mine...MWAH HAHA...  
  
************ CHAPTER ONE ************  
  
ZANE  
  
I woke up with a splitting headache. My muscles were so sore I could hardly move and I was weak and trembling. With my eyes closed, the only thing I could tell about my surroundings was that I was lying on a bed. For some reason I couldn't remember where I was, or what I had done to get myself like this. Had I gotten into a fight or something? I'm not bragging or anything, but it must have been one hell of a fight to make an X5 like me feel as crappy as I did right then.  
  
There was a loud clanging noise and the sound of a door opening. My eyes flew open and I sat up a little too quickly. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from crying out with pain.  
  
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," said a familiar but unsympathetic voice.  
  
I glanced up and my gaze met with a penetrating, almost scary pair of blue eyes. Suddenly it all came back to me, playing back like a movie.  
  
Flashback  
  
"Getting a little sloppy aren't you soldier?" the woman said as she grabbed my shirt with both her hands and forced me to stand up. She looked exactly like Jondy, from the golden hair to the blue eyes. For a moment I swore it was her, but a gut feeling told me they weren't the same person. Besides, she was wearing a red dress that was so short that it didn't look legal, and Jondy would never wear something like that. Unless there was something that she REALLY, REALLY wanted.  
  
I grabbed her wrists and shoved her back, but she remained unfazed. "You didn't tell me that you were going on a solo mission, 206,"  
  
I tried not to look surprised when she called me 206. But my designation was 205. Obviously she thought I was someone else..a clone of me. And as for her, she was a clone of Jondy. From Manticore, no doubt. Surprise surprise.  
  
"What are you, my mommy?" I played along with her, pretending I was "206". Maybe I could get myself out of this one unscathed. I didn't know what she was going to do to me if she found out that I was one of the twelve X5s who escaped in '09.  
  
End flashback  
  
"Yeah, no thanks to you, bitch." I said in a deadpan voice. I wasn't in the best mood and I didn't feel like talking, especially to the woman who had just gotten me dragged back into Manticore, the place where all my worst memories and fears had originated.  
  
Flashback  
  
"Hey, I was just asking. You don't usually keep secrets from me," She pouted, looking hurt. Then she ran one hand through my hair and kissed me.  
  
Uh oh, I thought to myself. I had kind of been hoping that 206 and the Jondy-look-alike didn't know each other very well, but from the way things were going it seemed like these guys were pretty close indeed. My hopes on getting away from this girl any time soon were suddenly washed down the drain.  
  
As she pushed me up against a wall with her hands all over me I resisted the urge to kiss her back. This is not Jondy, this is NOT Jondy, I told myself over and over. I looked up at the window of the room that the real Jondy was in, and prayed silently that she couldn't see me.  
  
I fought down the panic that was slowly rising in my chest when she starting kissing my neck. For crying out loud, if I could outrun a whole army of Lydecker's men when I was eleven, surely I could handle an X5 clone of my wife who was as sexy as hell and who was kissing me senseless, right? Wrong.  
  
Slowly and deliberately, I unwound her arms from around my neck pushed her back a little, forcing her to stop kissing me. "Um, I need...to go. Sorry." I said quietly, losing my cool just a little. It was amazing how much she looked like Jondy, and usually I wouldn't be able to resist the seductive look that she was giving me right now.  
  
"Oh, well, that's just too bad baby," she cast her eyes to the ground and shyly took both of my hands, pulling me closer to her. Then she tilted her head up so that our mouths were almost touching, and looked up at me expectantly.  
  
"Yeah, well, this mission's important. They want me to terminate a guy who's close to finding out about Manticore." I replied smoothly.  
  
She didn't say anything; she just lifted her hand to run her slender finger down my cheek. "Good luck then." She whispered. I could feel her breath on my face.  
  
When she finally pivoted on her heel and started to walk away, I barely had time to let out a sigh of relief. She whipped around again and as quickly as lightning grabbed my hair, wrenching my head back.  
  
"Liar," she sneered into my ear. I was stunned at how quickly she had changed from a seemingly harmless girl to a ruthless soldier once again, but I recovered quickly.  
  
I brought my knee as hard as I could into her stomach, which caused her to let go of my hair. Wasting no time I somersaulted over her head so her back was to me, but she hit me with a backward roundhouse kick, the chunky heel of her boots smashing into my jaw.  
  
As she turned to face me again, we both stood in a fighting stance glaring at each other, ready to pounce in a second. At first I was a little reluctant to fight with her, considering she looked exactly like Jondy and usually I would never even think of hurting Jondy unless it was some kind of life or death situation. But then she blurred towards me and knocked me back with a series of punches and kicks that would have killed a normal human.  
  
Right, I thought as I managed to dodge a few of the attacks. If it's a fight you want then I'll give you one.  
  
Then I turned around and ran as far away from her as I could at a speed that no human could possibly reach. No, I wasn't being a chicken; I just wanted to lead her away from Jondy and our son Corey who were hiding in an abandoned building nearby, because we were on the run from Manticore.  
  
"Going so soon?" the X5 taunted me from behind. "Come back and fight like a man!"  
  
I heard the WHOOSH sound of her speeding to catch up with me, and before I knew it she was standing in front of me. Not bothering to stop running, I stampeded into her. As she fell to the ground with me on top of her, I thought I had a good chance of knocking her out and then getting the hell out of there.  
  
But I underestimated her; she was strong, really strong, even in that short dress that she was in. I guess that the fact that she had been training at Manticore for about ten years more than I had kind of gave her an advantage.  
  
She punched me in the stomach, then in the face, and somehow maneuvered herself so that she could slam me onto the floor. She sat on my stomach with one leg on either side of my body, pinning my arms and legs so I couldn't move.  
  
I looked up at her helplessly and all I could do was struggle a little as she drew back her fist and started slugging my face, over and over. As she did it she wore that classic Manticore mask, a completely expressionless look.  
  
"You're one of those X5s that escaped in '09, aren't you sweetie?" she said, the look in her eyes evil. "Don't answer that. I've seen your picture in the slides they used to brainwash us." She slid her hands over my chest until she reached my neck. Then she wrapped her fingers around my throat and squeezed.  
  
I let out an incoherent noise as I lay there being choked. I could go for about six minutes without air, but I can't say that it didn't hurt. Besides, she didn't look like she was in a hurry to move her hand any time soon.  
  
".And yeah, you looked a lot scrawnier in that picture, but don't worry, you're actually quite attractive now." She continued, as if we were having a pleasant conversation in the park rather than a punch up at 3am in a dark alley. "It's really lucky that I ran into you. I've failed my mission, I'm sorry to say. I lost the guy that I was supposed to be terminating, but I think I could make up for it by bringing a rogue X5 like you back to Manticore right? Maybe I'll get two weeks in solitary instead of three."  
  
Goody for you, I thought. But I didn't say anything. I COULDN'T say anything. Her fingers were still wrapped firmly around my throat, and I could taste blood in my mouth from when she punched me. And all I could think about was that I was probably going to end up in Manticore.  
  
The sound of someone loading a rifle from above me interrupted my thoughts. For a second I thought the Jondy-clone was going to shoot me, but when I looked at her I noticed that she was searching the rooftops of the buildings around us. She had heard the noise too. I concentrated harder and saw that there were about seven or so soldiers dressed in black standing on the edges of the rooftops, with their guns pointed directly at us.  
  
Great, I thought. Manticore has come to get me. But to my great surprise the Jondy-clone let go of my throat. Our eyes met and for a brief second I saw confusion in her eyes. Something was seriously wrong here.  
  
"Move out!" she hissed, leaping off me. As soon as we got up the soldiers on the roof started firing. The soldiers were amazingly accurate, the perfect Manticore standard. I got hit a couple of times before I could even get up. I blurred towards a window, zigzagging wildly so that I wouldn't be such an easy target, and dove through it. Glass shattered everywhere, adding to the wounds that I already had.  
  
I didn't have any time to stop the blood that was flowing freely from all my gunshot wounds or survey my surroundings; I could already hear the foot steps of the soldiers coming down the stairs to get me. Strangely enough I found out that I could limp just as quietly as I could walk as I made my way out of the room that I had leapt into. I opened the door and after looking around to make sure no one was there, I snuck out.  
  
From all the shelves, racks and the cash register in the front, it looked like I was standing in the middle of a pre-pulse supermarket. Of course, the shelves had no food, the racks were empty and the cash register had been raided of all its money. Trying to ignore the wrenching pain in my gut, I searched for a place to hide. The footsteps, which were surprisingly quiet, were getting closer by the minute. Suddenly a door caught my eye. I crept over to it and put my ear against the surface of the door, listening for any sign of movement. When I couldn't hear anything I opened the door and scooted inside, closing the door quietly behind me.  
  
I found myself inside a cramped, musty broom closet. I thought I would be safe for a while, but for some reason warning bells were ringing inside my head. There was a creepy sensation on the back of my neck, telling me that someone was watching me.  
  
"You idiot!" a voice snarled. "You're going to lead them straight to us, with that trail of blood you're leaving behind!"  
  
I froze in a mid-punch, my fist stopping about an inch from the person's face. It was really dark in there, but with my enhanced vision I could see the Jondy-clone's smirking face. "Isn't that what you want? You just said that you'll get two weeks in solitary instead of three if you bring me back to Manticore!" I more confused than angry. Why was she hiding from those soldiers from Manticore?  
  
"They aren't from Manticore, you moron," she hissed angrily, leaning back onto a shelf filled with detergent and rags. "What?" I said, stunned. "You're lying!"  
  
"Oh, sure I am." She snapped sarcastically. "I've got one of the precious X5s that escaped in '09 right under my nose, so now I'm gonna hide with him in a broom closet. Yeah." She paused for a second to look at the pool of sticky blood that was forming at my feet from my gunshot wounds. "Believe me, 205, if they were Manticore, I'd be parading you around very proudly." Then she pointed to a gunshot wound on her left shoulder. "And besides, Manticore wants us back ALIVE."  
  
What she said made sense, but I still didn't trust her. "So, what, am I supposed to be glad to see you?"  
  
"After what I'm going to do, probably not." I didn't like the tiny smile that was forming on her lips. The next thing I knew my head felt like it was exploding and everything went black.  
  
End flashback  
  
"Hellooo." Her voice disrupted my thoughts and snapped me back into reality. "Earth to 205."  
  
"DON'T BLOODY CALL ME THAT!" I yelled at her furiously. "I'M ZANE, MY NAME'S ZANE!" I knew where I was now, and I wasn't too happy about it. The room I was in was small and rectangular, with one bed hanging from chains off the wall. It was plain, simple and full of Manticore gloom.  
  
Images of Jondy and our son Corey raced through my mind. How was I going to protect them if I was at Manticore? I should have fought harder, I thought. If they get hurt, it'll be my fault. The guilt was eating away at me, and the fact that the woman standing in front of me looked exactly like Jondy was making it even worse. I just wanted her to go away.  
  
The Jondy-clone just raised her eyebrows at my sudden outburst. That just pissed me off. Was this girl capable of any emotion? "Well, geez, ZANE." She emphasized my name. "Don't want to say that too loud, do we? If one of the guards hears you..well, you know what'll happen."  
  
"Don't you have a name?" I lent back onto the bed I was sitting on and stared up at the gray ceiling. My wounds still stung a little when I moved, but it was nothing compared to yesterday. I figured that I must have been fixed up in the infirmary.  
  
"I don't have a name. Just a number. X5 211." She answered automatically. Just like a good little soldier.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Don't give me that crap. What was your alias on your last mission?"  
  
"Tyra."  
  
"Then that's your name from now on."  
  
"Whatever you say."  
  
"Good. Now that we've got that sorted out, I have a few questions to ask you." I said. I was still confused about what had happened last night.  
  
"Mmm." Tyra mumbled, sounding a little bored. I glanced at her, only to see that she was inspecting her nails. Yeah, can you believe it, and X5 inspecting her nails?!  
  
"What in the WORLD did you hit me with?" I demanded, wincing at the memory of what happened in the broom closet. "And how'd we get out of there?"  
  
"Oh, that was a fire extinguisher." She laughed, sounding extremely proud of herself. "And when you were knocked out I picked up some rags and wiped up the blood trail that you left. Very careless of you. And then I just waited till they left and called Manticore to pick us both up." Suddenly she lent over me and her face filled my vision. "I forgot to thank you." She whispered, as if we were two school girls telling each other who we had a crush on. "Because I found you, I don't get ANY punishment for failing my mission. Renfro was really pleased."  
  
You bitch, I thought. The only thing that stopped me from leaping up and whacking her over the head were my injuries. BECAUSE OF YOU I DON'T GET TO BE WITH MY WIFE AND KID! I wanted to yell. But I just lay there, seething in silence. Tyra might have looked like Jondy, but she was absolutely NOTHING like her. She didn't know how to love, and she certainly didn't care about anyone. Other than herself that is. She just did what ever she had to do to get herself out of trouble, consequences be damned. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised; that was the way Manticore had intended for all of us to turn out. Zack had also brought up me and my brothers and sisters differently. He'd taught us to care for one another and he'd always look after us. And if we did something to get ourselves into trouble, he'd even make up excuses to take our punishments for us, rather than see us get hurt. I guess the other COs weren't so sympathetic.  
  
When I didn't answer Tyra continued talking. "Oh, and we're going to get debriefed soon. Renfro didn't want to debrief us before 'cause we were pretty much half dead when they brought us in." That was true - I couldn't even REMEMBER them bringing me in.  
  
Suddenly someone pounded their fist on the door. We both looked up and saw a guard peering in through the small barred window. "Come on 205 and 211. Get on with it!" the guard ordered.  
  
"Get on with what?" I said curiously, sitting up.  
  
"Well what to you think I came in here for, to have a good gossip?" Tyra got up and started to remove her clothes - which were typical army clothes, I was wearing the same thing - while I watched, horrified. "I'm your breeding partner. Let's do this quickly, ok?" "Wait, hold on a second!" I leapt up and waved my hands in front of me, while she stopped in a mid-strip. "...WHAT?!"  
  
"Look, I don't like this either, ok?" Tyra said, annoyed. "But some of your X5 buddies blew up the DNA lab last night. So that's bye-bye to cloning and hello to doing it every night until I get pregnant. It's not my fault. So deal."  
  
Wow, they did it, I thought. Zack, Maxie, Krit and Syl actually blew up the DNA lab. It took all my willpower to stop myself from dancing around the room with crazed happiness. But a few seconds later the "hello to us doing it every night until I get pregnant" part sunk in.  
  
I folded my arms across my chest and backed away. "Hell no. I'm not gonna have sex with you."  
  
"Hello?! Did you not hear what I just said? We don't exactly have a choice here!"  
  
"'Course we do! I don't want to do it!" I didn't mention why though. I knew heaps of guys who would love to be in a situation like this, especially with such a beautiful girl, but hey, I'm married. And I didn't want to endanger Jondy or Corey by saying exactly who I was married to.  
  
"What is your problem?" she asked incredulously. Then suddenly she got angry, her voice rising with every word. "You're going to get us both in trouble! I can think of a million things that are harder than what we're supposed to be doing. And besides, you were perfectly fine with kissing me last night!"  
  
"I thought that you thought I was someone else! You called me 206! I was playing along, 'cause I wanted to get out of there without any trouble. Fat chance there." I snapped.  
  
Tyra groaned as if she were talking to a brainless idiot. "You look exactly like 206. But I knew he wasn't on a mission so I put one and one together and...yeah. I was just having some fun with you."  
  
I gave her a scandalized look. Great, I thought. Now all I am to her is a toy for playing with.  
  
"Well? Are you going to co-operate or not?" She said bossily.  
  
I shook my head stubbornly.  
  
"What do you expect we should do now?" her voice was dangerously quiet. "I'm not gonna lie for you at drill tomorrow."  
  
"So what are you gonna do, rape me?" I sneered.  
  
For a few seconds we just stood there glaring at each other, equally furious. Then at the top of her lungs she yelled "GUARD!"  
  
"What are you doing?" It was really a pointless question, I already had a feeling that I knew what was going to happen next.  
  
Tyra sighed, feigning disappointment. "It's just too bad. I don't like getting you into trouble. Really, I don't. You're actually quite cute."  
  
I opened my mouth to say one of the million comebacks that had popped into my quick X5 brain, but the guard appeared at the door.  
  
"What is it, 211." He barked.  
  
She gave me one of those evil looks that I was already getting used to seeing. "205 refuses to cooperate."  
  
"Right." The guard unlocked the door and pointed a gun at me, motioning for me to get out. "Looks like you won't be seeing the light of day for a while, 205."  
  
I couldn't stop the sinking feeling in my chest. Solitary confinement. This was not good at all. As I walked outside I looked down at Tyra with so much hatred in my eyes, I could have sworn that she flinched. "Bitch." I hissed, my voice so soft that only she could hear. No, she wasn't like Jondy at all. 


	2. Things That Go Bump in the Night

A/N: Hope you like it so far! I can't update that much because I have school and stuff, and the School Certificate so they're hammering on the homework.....  
  
************ CHAPTER TWO ************  
  
JONDY  
  
"Yes?" I picked up my cell phone immediately after it rang. The cramped, musty room that me and Corey were hiding in was really getting on my nerves, and I didn't want to wake up Corey, who was curled up in my lap. It had taken me ages to get him to sleep, which didn't really surprise me considering he wasn't used to moving to a different place everyday to avoid getting caught by Manticore. I hadn't told him exactly why we were running, I had just told him that "bad guys were after us," to which he responded - "Like the evil witch in Snow White?" I didn't know whether to laugh or feel guilty.  
  
"Jondy?" Syl's voice came through. "Is that you?"  
  
I rolled my eyes in the darkness, knowing that we were miles apart and that she couldn't see me. "No, it's Snort, King of the Wild Bush Pigs. Syl, of course it's me."  
  
"Oh...right." Syl said quietly. There was a pause. As soon as I heard her speak I knew there was something wrong. Syl wasn't known to speak quietly, or stop speaking for long enough for anyone to get a word in.  
  
"Syl? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned. Then it dawned on me. "Oh, no. The DNA lab thing..are you guys ok? Did it work out?" Zack had called me a couple of days ago, telling me that he and Krit, Syl and Max were going to blow up the Manticore DNA lab this very night, with the help of Lydecker. I know, I thought they were insane! But there was nothing I could do to stop them, especially since me and Zane weren't invited to go.  
  
"We managed to blow up the DNA lab so that part's all good but.." Suddenly Syl burst into tears. "But...we didn't..all make it.." she managed to whimper between sobs.  
  
I could feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes from the thought of my poor baby sister being so upset. Also my heart was pounding....who didn't make it?  
  
"Syl, oh Sylly, I'm sorry." I whispered in a sad attempt to make her feel better. Then I heard the sound of the phone being moved. Syl was no longer there, her sobs sounded far away. "Syl? Syl, where are you?"  
  
To my surprise Krit came instead of Syl, but his voice sounded dull and sad. "Hey Jondy."  
  
"Krit! Oh I'm so glad you and Syl are ok." I couldn't believe how glad I was to know that Krit was there with Syl. At least she didn't have to deal with this all by herself.  
  
"Yeah, well, we got out but the others weren't so lucky. Maxie's dead and Zack's missing."  
  
For a few seconds I just sat there with my jaw hanging open in shock. "What happened?" I asked numbly, after a while. My voice was barely audible, but I knew that he could hear me.  
  
"I dunno Jon. Me and Syl just did what Zack told us to do, we went back to the helicopter that was supposed to get us out of there...and Lydecker told us that Max was dead. And we couldn't wait for Zack to come back. We didn't ask any questions, we just left without them." Krit said, keeping his voice controlled. Suddenly he blurted out, "I swear there was nothing we could do. The X7s, they were after us and they would've killed us all if we didn't leave right away. There was no time to save Maxie or Zack. Honestly Jondy, if I knew that we could've saved them, I...." he rattled on desparately.  
  
Poor Krit, I thought. I knew he was trying to convince me that they had done their best, but to me it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. I don't know what he was trying to prove - I knew that he cared about our siblings more than anything and that it would've been a horrible sacrifice for him to even consider leaving one of us, not to mention two, behind at Manticore. I was about to tell him that but I was interrupted by the sound of gunfire right outside the window.  
  
As I stood up quickly to see what was going on outside, Corey flopped right out of my lap and onto the floor.  
  
"Mommy?" he woke up and looked at me with wide, frightened eyes. "What's that noise?"  
  
"Sweetie, are you alright?" I reached over and gave him a quick hug and a kiss, my way of saying "sorry" for dumping him onto the floor. "Go over there, and keep away from the window. I'm going to find out what that noise is, ok?"  
  
To my relief Corey nodded obediently and shuffled sleepily over to the corner of the room furthest from the window. I slid my cell phone over to him as well, ignoring Krit who was yelling "Jondy! What's happening? Are you ok?" I didn't need the distraction, but I didn't hang up on him because knowing that he was there was oddly comforting. I also had to push away the sadness that had suddenly settled inside me when Krit told me that Max and Zack were gone.  
  
Carefully keeping in the shadows of the room I peeked out the window. There were bullets flying everywhere, zinging off the walls and the concrete below. The bullets were coming from the rooftops of the building opposite to the one we were in, but I wouldn't be able to see who exactly was firing unless I stuck my head straight out the window, which was not a great idea.  
  
Some movement from down below caught my attention. To my horror I saw Zane running in a weird way, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He'd been shot. More than once by the looks of it. I felt a rush of love and concern for him, but I was relieved as I watched him dive through a window and into safety. Subsequently, the shooting stopped.  
  
I paused for a moment, expecting it to start up again, but it didn't. The faint sound of footsteps running down stairs came from the building that Zane had entered. They were looking for him. I wanted to help him, get him out of there. I knew he was hurt badly, but I couldn't just leave Corey here. For all I knew, they probably after us as well.  
  
Flashback  
  
"What's going to happen if you or Zane get in trouble huh? You're not going to be able to help each other if there's a kid in the picture. It'll cloud your judgment. You'll make mistakes that way." Zack's intense eyes were fixed on me. Those eyes, they were the eyes of someone who had seen more terror and pain and been through more shit then anyone could've ever imagined. Those eyes were guarded by an invisible veil that hid any and all weakness and emotion. But I knew his weakness. His weakness was us, his siblings. He'd do anything to keep us safe, and that increased his chances of getting caught by a million. And it also meant that he didn't get to get his own life. That's what we escaped for, right? He cared about us; I knew he did, even though at times, like now, it really didn't show.  
  
"There is nothing you can say to make me give up this baby." I said stubbornly. I had only found out that I was pregnant two days ago, while Zane and Zack had gone to help Ben, who had accidentally run straight into Lydecker's evil clutches. They had been gone for just over two weeks. Zack wouldn't let me go because I was just about to go into heat. I, for a change, had agreed with that wholeheartedly, even though I really wanted to see Ben. I cracked myself up just thinking about the trouble it could have caused. Just imagine, there we are taking down all these guards while in the middle of a rain of gunfire, then the next moment I'm jumping every male I come across. Sure, it would have created a distraction, but we'd all have wound up dead in the end.  
  
"Don't you mean, 'There's nothing you can say to make US give up this baby'?" Zane corrected me. He suddenly came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and nuzzling my hair.  
  
I lent back against his warm chest, tilting my head back so I could kiss him lightly on his neck. "Yeah, that's right," I said softly. Man, I loved this guy. You should've seen his face when I had told him that I was pregnant when he and Zack had gotten back half an hour ago. He was so happy that he picked me up and danced us both around the room. Zack on the other hand, was not too pleased.  
  
Zack grimaced when he saw me and Zane having our little romantic moment. He had never approved of me and Zane being together. Romantically that is. Not to mention the fact that we were living together against his orders. I think that he thought it was kind of gross, with us being brother and sister and all. But me and Zane never had a problem with it. I mean, we weren't REALLY brother and sister. We didn't even look anything alike - Zane had dark hair and dark eyes, while I had golden hair and blue eyes.  
  
"Me and Jondy have been off Lydecker's radar for three years now. And we've only ever needed to be rescued twice." Zane said, trying to discuss the issue rationally, hence avoiding a huge fight. "Give us some credit here."  
  
Zack sighed, sounding a little defeated. We had won this round, but what about the next?  
  
"What about the kid?" he asked fiercely.  
  
"What about him?" I muttered darkly. I didn't think I was going to like what he has going to say next.  
  
"What if he's.....special. Both of you are transgenics and he's bound to turn out, well, different to normal kids. Smarter. He'll be doing eighth grade work when he's five. If he stands out, Lydecker will pick it up like THAT," Zack snapped his fingers. Then his voice softened a bit. "Do you really want to be watching him like a hawk, suppressing his talents so that he won't get noticed? One kid is not worth the trouble, not when you put yourselves at risk of being recaptured."  
  
Anger exploded inside me like a bomb. "Do you have a heart AT ALL!?" I burst out. I felt Zane tighten his grip on me, as if to stop me from lashing out and hitting Zack. "Of course it'll be worth it. And I'm not going to let that stupid fuckwit stop me from leading a normal life." I struggled to calm down.  
  
"We'll never be normal, no matter how hard we try. You know that, don't you Jondy?" Zack said quietly. There was something in his eyes. What was it? Sadness? Regret?  
  
I slumped back against Zane, all the anger draining out of me. "Yes. But we can try, can't we? We didn't escape Manticore because we wanted to spend the rest of our lives running and being miserable." I looked up and saw that both Zane and Zack were listening intently to me. "Ok, we didn't know that there was anything else out there, but when we found it was a better place it was a nice surprise, wasn't it? We're free dude; let's make the most of it."  
  
Zane chuckled.  
  
"Jondy..." Zack started to say.  
  
"This is what we've always wanted Zack." Zane interrupted. His eyes were serious. "We'll be happy."  
  
"Happy. Huh." Zack paced around the room, hands in his pockets. "Some of us need to be happy. It might as well be the two of you."  
  
"Why, aren't the others happy?" I asked, concerned. "Are they ok?" We used to be miserable back at Manticore. Wasn't it better out here for them?  
  
"I can't say. You know the rules."  
  
"I just...." I trailed off. We'd been through this so many times before that it was getting old. But there was an empty space inside of me. I needed to know if they we're ok, how they had turned out. I loved them, every single one of them and it just hurt to be away from them all the time. I knew it was for there own good though, and ours. If I got recaptured, I would never forgive myself if I gave their positions away.  
  
"You're nuts, both of you." Zack said finally. He sounded more tired than angry, like he had just spent the entire day taking care of a bunch of hyperactive toddlers. "I don't understand you....but...." He walked over to the door and put one hand on the doorknob. "Just take care of each other, alright?"  
  
Both Zane and I just stood there for the moment, shocked. Did we just hear Zack agree - indirectly - to let us have a baby? I slipped out of Zane's embrace and threw my arms around Zack. He stumbled back a little, taken aback, and patted my back awkwardly.  
  
"Thank you Zack." I whispered into his ear. "You don't know what this means to me."  
  
When I got off him, he put his hands on my shoulders and looked me squarely in the eyes. "I still don't think this is a good idea. But you're not kids anymore. You know the risk that you'll be putting yourself in. You know you'll be tying yourselves down. Tell you know, Jondy."  
  
"Yes, I do. We'll be careful, I promise." I bit my lip hard to stop myself from laughing with happiness.  
  
"Good." From the tone in his voice you'd think that we were signing our own death wish. Couldn't he have at least the tiniest bit of confidence in us? I wanted to say something but I didn't want to push it.  
  
Zack opened the door slowly. "If you need anything, you know what to do."  
  
"And you'll check up on us to make sure we're being good?" Zane piped up, stating the obvious. He had been so quiet before, which was really unusual.  
  
Zack raised his eyebrows. "Yeah. Right."  
  
Before he left I gave him another hug, and this time, to my surprise, he hugged me back. "Take care, baby sister. You too, Zane. Make sure Jondy doesn't get into trouble."  
  
I opened my mouth to protest, but shut it again when I saw Zack trying to hold back the laughter.  
  
"Yup." Zane said, puffing up his chest haughtily, as if he was a five year old who had just gotten a gold star from his teacher. "I won't let her out of my sight."  
  
Zack smiled - something that that I didn't see very often - and left. I stared at his retreating back for about a minute, then shut the door and turned to Zane.  
  
"That was too easy." I said, feeling like any minute now Zack would come back and order us to split up. I couldn't bear being apart from Zane.  
  
"I know what you mean. Usually by now there would be a few pieces of broken furniture lying around." Zane reached out and played with my hair.  
  
I looked up at him and frowned worriedly. "Do you think he's ok?" Suddenly my eyes widened. "Oh man, what if he's flipped? Completely gone bonkers? Geez, maybe looking out for us has really gotten to him..." I rambled.  
  
"Jon, I'm sure he's fine." Zane said gently, cupping my face in his hands. Then he smiled at me, making me fall silent. I lost myself in his eyes, paying no attention to the time or my surroundings. I swear that smile could make every girl go weak at the knees, including me. His eyes were so loving, so sincere, that a stab of guilt pierced my heart. *You don't deserve him* a little voice inside my head snarled. *Not after what you did two weeks ago. If he knew, he'd be heartbroken!*  
  
I swallowed thickly and wrenched my gaze away from him, looking down so he wouldn't see the betrayal in my eyes.  
  
"What's the matter?" Zane asked, sensing something was wrong. He was always good like that.  
  
"Nothing, I was just thinking how incredibly lucky I am." I replied calmly. I had just lied through my teeth to the one guy that I really cared about. Thank you Manticore, I thought. If there was one thing they taught us in that place that was worth while, it was how to act like you were in control when your nerves were trying to eat its way out of your body.  
  
Zane gathered me up in his arms and I could feel the warmth from his body flow into me. "I love you."  
  
At the sound of those three small words all thoughts disappeared from my mind and I smiled, glowing from the inside out. I ran one hand through his hair towards the back of his head so that I could bring his mouth down onto mine.  
  
I kissed him for a few seconds, and then broke away to say "I love you too," a little breathlessly. His mouth was so close to mine that I couldn't stop myself from leaning forward and kissing him again. He let out a small laugh and slipped his arms around my waist, pressing his body against mine. His fingers found their way up my shirt, gently trailing across my skin.  
  
I shivered and led him, with his lips still against mine, to the sofa. I pushed him back onto it and managed to climb into his lap with my eyes closed. We just sat there making out for a long time, and I was perfectly content. Safe. It was a nice feeling. While I stroked his soft hair, I thought that if I had ever belonged anywhere, it was right here in Zane's arms. Me and my siblings never got the chance to feel this way, and I would not give it up for anything. What I had done two weeks ago would tear Zane up inside, and hurting him was the last thing that I ever wanted to do.  
  
So then and there, I left my guilty conscience behind and decided not to tell him.  
  
End flashback  
  
The sound of Corey talking to Krit on the phone shook me back into reality. I gave myself a mental beating for drifting off like that, especially at a time like this, when the lives of my husband and son were at stake.  
  
"....She went to check what the scary noise was. No, you can't. You need to be patient!........No, my name's Corey.." he said calmly to a very annoyed Krit, who was demanding to talk to me.  
  
"Corey, let me talk to him."  
  
"Ok." He said, handing me the phone.  
  
"Krit? Sorry. Manticore's onto us. I think they've got Zane." I blurted out before Krit could say anything.  
  
"Is that what that shooting was? How can you be sure?"  
  
"Who else could it be?" I cried. I was so worried about Zane that I could hardly keep control of myself. "I saw him running outside and they were aiming at him. He got shot. He could be dying. I can't let them take him, Krit. But I can't leave Corey here and...."  
  
"Jondy, DON'T! Don't go after him, you'll get caught. What was he doing out there anyway?"  
  
"We had a fight, and he went out to let off some steam." This is all my fault, this is all my fault, I repeated over and over to myself.  
  
"Look, you can't stay there. If they know you've got a kid, they'll be after you too. They'll get your positions out of Zane somehow, in Psy- Ops..."  
  
"SHIT! PSY-OPS! They'll kill him in there!" I panicked. All the lectures that Zack had ever given me were running through my head. No emotional ties. Endangering the others. Tying yourself down. "I gotta go help him..."  
  
"JONDY! Calm down!" Krit ordered loudly. The tone of his voice shut me up. I was so surprised at myself; I had never been known to panic like this. I took in a shaky breath.  
  
"Listen," Krit said. The voice of my big brother was having somewhat a soothing effect on me. "We don't even know if Manticore will get him. You know Zane, he's smart, and he'll find a way to get himself out of there somehow. But you have to get yourself out of there Jondy, ok? Come to me and Syl's place. It's safer here, for you and Corey."  
  
I stood there, dumbstruck. Wow. Krit and Syl's place. I hadn't seen them for over ten years now, and the thought of being with them brought a glimmer of optimism into me. "Are you sure?" I whispered.  
  
"Yeah, of course . What's stopping you? Lydecker's repented from his evil ways, so he's not after us anymore, I can guarantee that. And he said that the new director at Manticore is more interested in looking for Eyes Only than the '09 escapees. You'll be safer with us. And as Syl would say, 'We have a lot of catching up to do.'"  
  
That was not what I had meant. I felt guilty leaving Zane all alone, and if Manticore was not interested in us anymore, why did they bother to place a tracking device on him a week and a half ago? Why had we been on the run ever since then? Why did they go to the trouble of sending a team of soldiers to retrieve Zane?  
  
"Jondy?"  
  
I sighed, half annoyed at Krit's persistence and half annoyed at the fact that I knew he was right. "Alright, I'll be there in a few days." After he told me where they lived, I hung up.  
  
"Corey?" I crouched down to eye level with my son, who had been so patient with me. He was really such an angel sometimes. "We're getting out of here."  
  
"Good." Corey wrinkled up his little nose. "This place is YUCKY."  
  
I smoothed his hair away from his face and smiled fondly at him. "Well you're going to like the place we're going to."  
  
"Where are we going?" his expression perked up.  
  
"To your Uncle Krit and Aunt Syl's house." Corey looked confused. "Who are they? Are they nice? Do they have toys? Can I have a bath there?"  
  
"Heeeeyyy slow down." I said, fighting down a laugh. "They're very nice. I'm sure you'll love them." I seriously doubted they had any toys, so I moved on to the next question. "And I'm pretty sure you can have a bath."  
  
"Cool!"  
  
I helped him up and took his hand to lead him outside. I intended to escape around the back, steal a car and take the long way to Krit's house, to avoid the soldiers from Manticore.  
  
Suddenly Corey stopped, and asked the question I had been dreading. "What about daddy?"  
  
I picked him up and looked at him solemnly. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. How do you tell a three year old boy that he would probably never see his dad again? I didn't want to put a false hope in him, but I didn't want to see him completely devastated either. "Daddy can't come with us." I said slowly.  
  
"Why? Doesn't he love us anymore?" Corey interrupted, his voice tearful.  
  
My eyes widened. Even I was shocked at that statement. "NO. Don't ever say that. Of course he loves us. He loves us more than anything, it's just..."  
  
Corey looked at me expectantly. It looked as if he could have waited a few hours to hear my answer.  
  
"He WANTS to come with us, but he can't." I bit my lip. "Remember the scary noise outside? They were guns. The bad guys that we were running from, they found daddy. And they're still looking for us. That's why we have to go without him. Or they'll find us too, and they'll take us away."  
  
Corey looked scandalized. "Did they SHOOT daddy?"  
  
"Yes," I managed to get out. I know, it was a horrible thing to say to your child, but I was not going to lie to him. He didn't deserve to be lied to. "But he's ok. They'll fix him up. He'll be as good as new." I didn't mention what THEY were going to do to him in Psy-Ops.  
  
"But....if they're bad, why are they going to fix him up?"  
  
I could practically feel my heart being ripped to shreds from the look on his face. Such a beautifully innocent face shouldn't have had to be wearing the worried, terrified expression that he had on then. "Well, they want him to work for them, that's why. They make him do bad things. But he doesn't want to do it."  
  
Corey was silently taking all of this in.  
  
"Don't worry baby," I assured him softly. "He'll be ok. He's very tough. And he'll try his best to get out of there so we can see him again." I wanted to believe that too, I really did. I looked towards the window longingly.  
  
I'm so sorry Zane, I thought, hoping that just maybe he could hear me. I don't want them to get Corey. He's just a little boy. You wouldn't want them to strap him to a table and cut him up. You understand, right?  
  
The guilt and sadness was churning up inside me, but at least I knew that once me and Corey were at Syl and Krit's house, we wouldn't be alone. But there wouldn't be any one there for Zane at Manticore. 


	3. Another Person to Hide From

A/N: Sorry I took so long to update. I hate it when people do that ( take a long time to update, I mean ), and here I am doing it myself! I guess I understand now! Oh, and for that person who wanted me to put in exactly what Jondy did in the two weeks that Zane and Zack went to rescue Ben, I'm going to put that in the next chapter, so don't worry. I actually knew that I was going to put that in from the beginning, because that's the whole main idea of the story ( so in other words, what has been happening is all Jondy's fault, boo hoo ). Hope you like this one.  
  
************** CHAPTER THREE **************  
  
ZANE  
  
It was nice to be out in the sunshine again. I had just been in solitary for about two days, which wasn't so bad considering some of the more unfortunate X series had spent weeks at a time in the small, sealed room. Some of them had starved and even run of out air.  
  
It's weird, because I thought I would get punished severely for being a bad soldier and escaping in '09. A few months in Psy-Ops maybe. But so far, except for the solitary confinement I had gotten for not "cooperating" with my breeding partner, there had been no punishment. Can't say I'm complaining though. Maybe they got over the whole thing.  
  
I was out here to begin my first day of training at Manticore. Lovely, huh? There was a TAC leader behind me, leading me over to where I was supposed to be training. Manticore had changed a lot since we escaped. We were training outside on a blue mat that was next to a really ugly wired fence, instead of inside like we used to. And the X5s were all around their early twenties. I was used to being surrounded by children, because back then we were the oldest X series, apart from the nomalies in the basement that is. Now we were all grown up.  
  
The TAC leader led me to a group of seven X5s who were standing at attention in front of a large blue mat.  
  
"At ease soldiers." The TAC leader ordered, and they did so. I could tell that he loved all the control he had over us. "Get in line." He snapped impatiently at me.  
  
I obediently hopped over next to the last X5 in line, standing at ease. I had gotten a pretty good look at them all, and so far I didn't recognize any of them. But there was one girl with long dark hair, dark eyes and tanned skin that looked vaguely familiar, though I couldn't bring myself to remember where I had seen her before.  
  
"Today we are going to resume our normal training exercises. Afterwards you'll be on a training mission. Consider this as your warm up, soldiers." The TAC leader paced back and forth, inspecting each one of us closely. Probably checking to see if our uniforms were on straight or something like that. When he stopped in front of me I stared straight ahead with a blank look on my face. "You." He barked at me. "Get on the mat."  
  
"And you." He pointed to the girl with long brown hair. "You'll be fighting him."  
  
As we both faced in other on the mat with our arms up ready to fight, I suddenly remembered where I had seen her before. She was in the infirmary a few days ago when I had been brought in with all those gunshot wounds. I had been really groggy from the loss of blood and the sedative the doctors had given me, but I knew for sure that she had needed a new heart and had just gotten an operation. Yes, there was a blond lady standing next to her bed talking to her, and for some reason she had turned the heart monitor up really loud. It had really pissed me off.  
  
When the TAC leader ordered us to fight though, she showed no recognition of me. She launched herself at me straight away, and I blurred over to the side, easily avoiding her. I caught her by the arm as she zoomed past and flipped her onto the floor. She sprung up gracefully almost straight away, which for some strange reason reminded me of Jondy.  
  
The unfairness of all the events that had occurred over the last few weeks - getting a tracking device placed on me, being on the run with poor Corey who didn't know what was going on, my stupid fight with Jondy, getting recaptured by Manticore and having to leave the only two people that really mattered to me - hit me in full force. I hoped to God, the Blue Lady, whoever, that Jondy and Corey were safe.  
  
The girl took advantage of my distraction and swept her leg under mine, knocking my feet right out from under me. I fell painfully onto my ass. She slammed her foot down onto my chest and my head thumped back onto the mat. Not wanting to lose this fight, I rammed my fist as hard as I could into her kneecap. Her leg buckled and she stumbled back on to me, deliberately landing so that her elbow dug into my stomach. The bitch. Pain shot through my body, but I didn't let it affect me.  
  
I back handed her in the face, bent my right knee so that I could place my foot on her stomach and shoved her off me. She landed a few feet away on her side. I leapt onto my feet quickly and strode over to her. I violently started to kick her stomach, her head, whatever my foot connected with. I knew was fighting dirty and I wasn't supposed to, but I didn't care. I wanted to take my anger, frustration and pain out on something, and she was the nearest punching bag.  
  
The girl curled up defensively, protecting herself from my brutal blows. Her soft brown hair fell across her face. I backed off a bit, deciding that just hitting her was not enough. I hated this place, I hated the people inside it, and at the moment I didn't care if they were feeling the same as I was. "They must have given you a bad heart." I jeered maliciously. "Get up."  
  
The girl took on an amazing transformation. Her head shot up and she glared up at me with a look of pure hatred, like I had just insulted her family. She got to her feet and edged towards me menacingly, her dark eyes full of loathing and her pretty features hardened. I matched her gaze with equal intensity and anger.  
  
We circled around each other, both of us waiting for the other to make the first move. Suddenly with the speed of lighting, and I mean this literally, she flew into the air. She hurtled towards me, feet first, kicking my stomach with the toes of her hard boots, over and over and over, until she finally reached the ground again.  
  
"AAArrggghh!" she yelled, her teeth bared, releasing the animal inside her.  
  
I clutched my stomach, completely winded. I didn't have any time to recover though, because she grabbed me and put me into a head lock. And shit, was she strong. It felt like she was trying to rip my head off with her bear hands.  
  
I liked having a head, so I wrapped my leg around hers, attempting to make her trip so she'd let go of me. No such luck. She tripped alright, but right on top of me, pinning me down.  
  
Five seconds ticked past, and she won the fight. But she didn't get off me. I looked into her eyes, expecting to see a triumphant smirk on her face, but there was none. Instead there was just a deep brown pool of anger, sadness, loneliness that resembled mine exactly. I knew she could see it too. We had a split second of understanding, only a split second because we were interrupted by the voice of evil.  
  
"Very good 452." said Renfro's rough voice. The voice that sent chills down your spine. She stared down on us, arms folded, obviously pleased. "Get up, 205."  
  
I widened my eyes in surprise. She didn't get off me; instead she stared at me with realization dawning upon her face. MAX? I thought, probably at the same time that she was thinking - ZANE?  
  
I fought hard to stop myself from crashing her into a hug. Max, I thought. MAX! I hadn't seen her for years! I felt warm all over from the fact that I knew I was no longer alone.  
  
"Yes, yes." Renfro drawled, sounding bored. I was knocked straight out of my happy state. "Reunited once again. Save the sob story. Now, I do believe that I just ordered both of you to get up!" she yelled.  
  
We both stood up quickly, but not before Max mouthed at me, "High place. Meet me there." I didn't get time to give an indication that I understood, but I think she trusted my X5 lip reading abilities enough to know that I had gotten the picture.  
  
We stood with a perfect soldier's posture back in line with the other X5s. Renfro stood arrogantly before us, smiling cruelly. What she said next was directed at Max and me.  
  
"Now that you've both found one other, I'll assure you that you won't be seeing any more of each other again. 211 became one of our best soldiers after the 12 of you escaped in '09, 205. She will inform me if you two sneak out for a midnight rendezvous. She is your breeding partner, after all, and she'll be in your cell for most of the night. That is the same for you, 452. 494 will not hesitate to turn you in. You are also forbidden to sit near each other in the cafeteria. You will not make eye contact, talk to each other or communicate in any other way, or you both will be severely punished. Is that understood soldiers?" her voice wasn't all that loud, but it was dangerous all the same.  
  
"Yes ma'am!" we yelled in unison, using our best soldier's voices.  
  
"Good. Now come with me, 205. We need to have a chat. Continue with your training." She nodded towards Max and the other X5s, and turned on her heel.  
  
I marched a few feet behind her. As she led me into the Psy-Ops building, I realized I was starving. I hadn't eaten since I had been put in solitary. I could go for a few more days without food I guess, but I didn't enjoy doing that. I like eating. Pizza in particular. The hunger mingled with the fear of what Renfro was going to do with me.  
  
We walked through a plain white hallway, past many metal doors. I had a vague recollection of coming here before, when I was younger. Seven, I think. They did tests on us, shoved needles into our skin and cut us up like it was nobody's business. I remembered getting the laser in my eye too. I can't even figure out why we got the laser, all I know is that it hurt. Really hurt. We were so confused back then; we didn't know what was happening, or why we were there. We thought that maybe this is what happened to all kids, that this was life. Ben used to make up stories about why we were here. He always had a reason for everything that happened to us. I don't think what he told us was actually true, but it was still better than having no explanation at all.  
  
Fear pierced my heart when I flicked my eyes to the left and read the labels on the metal doors. Experiment Room. Laser Room. Reprogramming Room. Chastisement Room. Shit, maybe when she had said "chat", she meant "beat the crap out of 205". Or maybe she was going to force me to tell her where the others where. I felt a rush of gratitude towards Zack who had refused to let me visit my other siblings since the escape; at least I could guarantee that I wouldn't give their positions away. Jondy and Corey on the other hand, I knew exactly where they were. I hoped to God that Jondy had figured out that I wasn't coming back and hit the road again.  
  
I let out the smallest sigh of relief when she stopped outside the debriefing room. All the images that had been running through my head of being strapped to a table and tortured with pliers for days on end fizzled away.  
  
We entered a room about the size of a small bedroom. It was cold and almost everything there was unfriendly and made of metal, from the walls and tables to the computers and other high-tech equipment. I noticed that Tyra was there too, dressed in a gray T-Shirt and army pants. She didn't look at me; instead she stared straight ahead and saluted at Renfro when she entered. I was shocked to realize that I was glad she was there, no matter how much I hated her for ruining my life. Hey, I didn't like the idea of being alone with Renfro, ok?  
  
As I took my position next to her I was surprised at how naturally everything was coming back to me - all the training, how to stand, when to speak, stuff like that. I guess I was still a soldier after all.  
  
"211, 205." Renfro addressed us. "You may stand at ease." I watched as she paced around the room. She walked with an air of authority, and her voice was hard and cold. Just like the room.  
  
"I have come to understand that on the night you were recaptured, 205, you and 211 were ambushed by a group of soldiers whom you could not identify, is that correct?"  
  
"Yes, ma'am." I said, confused. Soldiers that I couldn't identify, my ass! I had been certain that they were from Manticore...I mean, who else could they have been? But then I recalled Tyra saying in the broom cupboard, "They aren't from Manticore, you moron!"  
  
"Well I happen to know exactly who they were." Renfro snapped arrogantly. "They are part of a cult called the Familiars. Manticore has had connections with them in the past. Keep in mind though, we are not allies. The Familiars were created by the man who created Manticore. Sandeman. I believe he intended for us to work together, but the Familiars began to think that they were more powerful than the transgenics. So now they want to destroy Manticore. As yet they do not know our location. You two should be VERY grateful that you didn't lead them to us, or you'd both be in a whole lot of hell."  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence while Renfro stood glowering at us. I opened my mouth to say something, but I decided against it. Suddenly Tyra piped up, reading my mind.  
  
"Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"  
  
"Granted, 211. This better be good."  
  
"What has this got anything to do with me and 205? How did they know we were from Manticore? The Familiars can't possibly be that good." She said in that mechanical voice. It was pretty much impossible to tell what she was thinking or feeling. I, on the other hand, was getting more confused by the minute.  
  
"That's what I would like to know as well, 211." Renfro turned to look at me coldly. "205. When you were gallivanting around in the outside world did you happen to tell anyone what you are, or where you came from?"  
  
"No ma'am." I said truthfully. I hadn't even made any close friends, Zack made sure of that. The only people who were really close to me were Jondy and Corey. Corey obviously didn't know what I was, but Jondy was an X5 like me, so I didn't exactly need to tell her anything.  
  
"Do you value your life, 205?" Renfro practically yelled at me. I almost jumped back in fright. "Tell the truth!" That was really a stupid thing to say, because X5s were trained to lie, but I WAS telling the truth.  
  
"I AM telling the truth ma'am!" I said, using my best soldier's voice. "I told no one about where I came from, because I was scared that I was going to get recaptured!" Oops, wrong thing to say..  
  
"WHAT was that, 205? You were SCARED? Scared, 205? Good soldiers do not get scared! Good soldiers do not have emotions, you do not fear anything! Your mind has been corrupted by the world outside. Do you need to be reminded of your duties as a soldier, 205?" Renfro roared. It was weird how such a little person could make so much bloody noise! I was at lead one foot taller than her, but somehow she managed to look down her nose at me.  
  
"No ma'am, sorry ma'am!" Please don't send me to Psy-Ops, please don't send me to Psy-Ops, I begged silently. I was tense all over.  
  
"Good." She said lightly. "Now let's get on with what we were talking about earlier. The reason I was informing you about the Familiars is because I want to send you both on a mission. Together. I want you to find out if this man.." she paused to flick a remote control. Suddenly the entire wall in front of us illuminated and a picture of a man in his thirties appeared. I realized that the wall was, in fact, a computer screen. "....Is part of the Familiars. His name is Ames White, and he is an FBI agent, though I suspect that he uses this authority for other purposes. You are to follow him wherever he goes. Bug the phones in his house and his cell phone. Find out anything you can about the Familiars, especially if they know where we are. You leave at 0600 hours tomorrow. I'll give you more details then."  
  
"Yes ma'am." I answered automatically, at the exact same time as Tyra. I was stunned. I couldn't believe that Renfro was going to send me on a mission, especially since I had only just been recaptured. I thought I would've been spending most of my time in Psy-Ops getting brainwashed.  
  
"And 205. I know what you're thinking. I'm sending you on this mission because I suspect you might be the source of this problem. If you even THINK of trying to escape, well, let's just say that 452 will be wishing that she had never been born. I will constantly be checking up on you, and 211 will also be watching you like a hawk. So don't think you can get away. Do you understand, 205?"  
  
Anger flared up inside me. I was dreaming of the day that I could put this evil bitch into the basement with the nomalies forever. She had complete control over me, and she knew it. I was like one of those remote control toy cars - she would tell me exactly what to do and I would do it. A horrible image of Max being tortured filled my mind. There was no way I was getting out of this one.  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
It's funny how caring for someone can be your biggest weakness, huh?  
  
***************************************  
  
I stepped up onto the High Place. It was nothing but the top of a tin roof of one of the Manticore buildings, but me and my siblings had spent many nights up here confiding in the Blue Lady, asking her to help us and protect us. Ben in particular. Or sometimes we just came up here to be left alone.  
  
I had just had a stroke of luck. Because me and Tyra had to leave for our mission at the crack of dawn, we were allowed to have a break from our breeding partner duties ( ha! ) for tonight, so that we could sleep. So that meant that I could meet Maxie at the High Place without getting tattled on by Renfro's pet. But considering that I was an X5, and the fact that an X5's luck never lasts, I half expected to get caught by a guard on the way here. Nope! I was pleasantly surprised.  
  
I stepped up onto the High Place. It was nothing but the top of a tin roof of one of the Manticore buildings, but me and my siblings had spent many nights up here confiding in the Blue Lady, asking her to help us and protect us. Ben in particular. Or sometimes we just came up here to be left alone.  
  
That's exactly how I found Max. Alone, lying on her back and looking up at the stars.  
  
"Max!" I called softly. I knew she would be able to hear me.  
  
She sat up, suddenly alert and froze when she saw me. For a moment we just stared at each other in awe, we both couldn't believe that this was actually happening.  
  
Suddenly Max leapt up and threw her arms around my neck. "ZANE!" she cried. "It's so nice to see you!" Then she stepped back and looked me up and down. "Wow. Not bad. You've ditched the scrawny legs and arms you used to have, I see.."  
  
"I was NOT scrawny!" I huffed, taking a step back from her. "WHY does everyone say that I was scrawny!" I folded my arms, annoyed.  
  
Max grinned, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Uh, like, 'cause you WERE scrawny?" she teased.  
  
"I resent that." I muttered darkly, avoiding her eyes. I didn't even bother to think of a comeback, even though I had plenty of insults to spare. This would be the last time that I would see Max for the next few months, or possibly forever, and I didn't want to spend the whole time arguing the precious minutes away.  
  
"Aw, Zane." Max's voice softened. "I shouldn't be picking on you. I'm sorry."  
  
She sat down, and motioned for me to sit down next to her. I gave her a suspicious glare. She was up to something, and I knew it. It wasn't like her to apologize and give up the chance of having a good heated argument. Usually she was really feisty.  
  
Max looked up at me expectantly. Then she sighed. "Zane! Look, for what it's worth, we were ALL scrawny little shits, ok?"  
  
"Damn right!" I said, feeling perky again. I plonked down next to her with my legs bent in front of me.  
  
What happened next was completely unexpected. As soon as I got comfortable ( as comfortable as you could get on a tin roof, anyway ) Max launched herself at me and dug her fingers into my ribs. At first I had the frightening thought that maybe she was turning into a nomaly and decided to attack me, but then I realized that she was in fact tickling me. It was one of those rare moments in Manticore where there was actually fun, laughter and happiness.  
  
"NOO!" I yelled between fits of laughter. "Stop it Max! You're evil! HEEEELLP!!" I held her at arms-length with my hand but somehow she still managed to reach me.  
  
"AHAHA!" cackled Max, kneeling over me. "You can't get away Zane! No one can hear you from up here!"  
  
We both knew that with one shove, I could send her flying off the roof. I could, but I wouldn't. So instead I found a better, less violent way to get her off me. I yanked at her hair.  
  
"OW!" Max yelped painfully, suddenly backing off. "Not the hair!"  
  
I loosened my grip and stared at the dark brown locks that were slipping through my fingers. "WHOA dude, your hair is long. You're Rupunzel re- incarnated!"  
  
Max flipped her hair over her shoulder. "It's not THAT long. It was up to here before..." she motioned to her shoulders. "And it was curly! Besides, you should've seen Tinga's hair. Now that was long." She smiled at me wistfully, probably remembering Tinga.  
  
"She's..dead, right?" I said carefully, even though I knew the answer. Zack had told me, though I never got to see her after the escape. I felt a dull sadness nagging at me.  
  
Max nodded. "Yeah, the bitch Renfro killed her. Well, at least I think it was her. It wasn't Lydecker, I know that. He was really upset that she died." She hugged her knees to her chest, and shivered.  
  
I slung my arm around her shoulder in a brotherly way, half to keep her warm, half to comfort her. Poor Maxie, I thought. She had probably seen many of our siblings dying and getting recaptured.  
  
She leant against me gratefully. "So, did you get to see anyone after the escape?"  
  
"Well, yeah." I said, wanting to tell her about Jondy. Her and Max had been best friends at Manticore. "There was Zack, of course. And Ben, we had to save his ass. And Jondy."  
  
I grinned as she suddenly became animated.  
  
"JONDY?" she cried, lifting her head up excitedly. "Where? When? How is she?" She frowned. "Or did you only see her for five minutes?"  
  
"No!" I burst out. "We're married!"  
  
"MARRIED?!" She almost fainted with happiness. She ruffled my hair playfully, like she used to do when we were kids ( which was kind of weird considering I had always been a lot taller than her ). "That's great!.....Oh wow!" She laughed. "I must sound like an idiot. So, were you guys happy?"  
  
I sighed pensively. "Yes. For the first time in my life I was happy, you know? Really happy. We have a three year old son too. Corey.."  
  
"A SON!" Max gasped. "Aw, I have two nephews now!"  
  
I looked at her, confused. "Two?"  
  
"Yes. Tinga had a son too. Case. He was the most adorable little thing.."  
  
I raised my eyebrows, completely taken aback. "Wow. Cool. Zack never told us that."  
  
"Well I guess he didn't want to encourage you, you know?"  
  
I swear I had never seen Max in such a good mood before. When we were kids, she was always sad, scared or angry. And she had a good reason to be. Most of us were like that, I guess. But this was a true Kodak moment. I wished I could take a picture and give it to Jondy.  
  
Max noticed my sad look. "You miss them, right." It wasn't even a question, she just knew.  
  
"Yes. Of course. I'm just..worried." I began, feeling grateful that I could finally tell someone about my worries. For the first time in four days I didn't feel alone. "They're by themselves, and I can't protect them. We were on the run, because Manticore put a tracking device on me. And then me and Jondy had this fight, and I went outside..and then I got caught." Then I yelled out, "FUCK! How could I have been so stupid! I completely put them in danger..."  
  
"Zane! It's ok." Max hugged me tightly. "It's not your fault. Everyone makes mistakes.."  
  
"No Max!" I protested. "We're X5's. We can't afford to make mistakes!" Max just looked at me sympathetically, she knew how I felt. "If anything happens to them Maxie, I'll die." I whispered, feeling a fresh wave of guilt and misery.  
  
"I know." She said softly.  
  
"Max?" I said, suddenly curious. I mentally kicked myself for being so self absorbed that I hadn't thought to ask this before. "What happened when you guys blew up the DNA lab?"  
  
Max looked mildly surprised at the change of subject. Then her eyes glazed over as she remembered something horrible. I braced myself for the worst.  
  
"Well, we managed to blow it up alright. And I think that Krit and Syl got out. But...I got shot in the heart by one of the X7s, and I died..." I tightened my grip around her. "Apparently Zack killed himself to save me." Max said, her voice emotionless.  
  
I sat there, stunned. "He's dead?" How could Zack be dead? He was our big brother, he was invincible! Nothing could hurt him! It seemed kind of stupid. I mean, he had been chased for most of his life by the most advanced military agency, and in the end the fact that he had cared for someone had killed him. Emotional ties. Tying yourself down.  
  
"Yes!" Max's eyes filled with tears. "He's so stupid! Why did he kill himself? He shouldn't have! It's all my fault! He's dead because of me!" The tears began to slip silently down her cheeks.  
  
I hugged her protectively, resting my chin on her head. "He did it because he loves you."  
  
"But..but.." she sobbed, her voice muffled against my shirt. "He didn't get to have his own life. He only took care of us. He didn't even think twice about it..and there wasn't even anyone there to protect HIM."  
  
"He's in the Good Place now." I said soothingly. "The Blue Lady will take care of him."  
  
Max relaxed a little and her sobs died down. I didn't know whether or not she still believed in the Blue Lady, but the words seemed to calm her.  
  
"I didn't get to say thank you to him." She whispered.  
  
I suddenly had an idea. "We're at the High Place, aren't we? We can say thank you now, and he'll be able to hear us."  
  
"You think so?" she said hopefully, like a lost little girl.  
  
"Yes." I assured her. I think I was starting to believe in the Blue Lady again, even if it was just for five minutes - that's how much I wanted to talk to Zack as well.  
  
Max hesitated, and then began speaking. "Zack, can you hear me? It's Max. And Zane as well. We just wanted to tell you that we love you, and...." she drifted off, unsure of what to say.  
  
"And we want to thank you for giving up your life just to take care of us. To make sure we didn't get landed back here." I filled in for her. And for myself too. "We probably didn't deserve what you did for us. We were always ungrateful little brats, but you always took all the crap that we threw at you. You didn't stop loving us. You could've just left us, but you didn't."  
  
"Yeah," Max agreed. "We never wanted to admit it, but you always knew what was best for us, even if it majorly sucked. But you had good intentions."  
  
I laughed. "Oh yes, and don't forget to say hello to Tinga and Ben, and Jack and Eva. Is that all we need to say for now, Max?"  
  
Max frowned, considering this seriously. "One more thing. Be good up there, ok? And make sure you get a girlfriend!"  
  
We both cracked up. Max was visibly happier. It was strange, seeing her cry, but I think it was a good thing. I had never seen her cry before and knowing her I didn't think she cried very often, but, like me, she needed someone to talk to, someone to understand what she was going through.  
  
A bunch of birds chirped loudly within the trees of the forest. That meant it was nearly morning. MORNING?!  
  
"Crap!" I leapt up. "I need to go!"  
  
"Why?" asked Max, sounding disappointed. "Oh, is that 211 chick gonna.."  
  
"No." I blurted out. "We're going on a mission. At 0600 hours. Me and 211."  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"I know, weird huh?"  
  
"You can escape, Zane! This is a really good opportunity..."  
  
"NO!" I interrupted. "I can't Maxie." I softened my voice. "Renfro said..she said that if I tried anything she'd hurt you."  
  
Max's eyes darkened. "Don't worry about it. Get back to Jondy and Corey. Take care of them."  
  
"MAX!" I scolded, appalled that she could think that I would possibly consider escaping and leaving her here. "I can't do that!"  
  
"I can handle it, ok? I'll feel better if I know that you and Jondy are together again.." Max said stubbornly.  
  
"But I WON'T feel better." I snapped. Surprisingly, I wasn't even tempted to take her offer. "I'd never be able to live with myself. I can't let them hurt you."  
  
"Don't act all noble on me Zane!" Max yelled. "This is the only chance you'll get."  
  
"No! I'm your big brother! I'm supposed to take care of you!" I turned my back on her and started to walk away. "I gotta go Max!"  
  
There was silence behind me as I sneaked away. Then, "ZANE! Wait a minute."  
  
I turned around. Max blurred towards me.  
  
"Zane." Max said softly. "If you won't escape, can you do me a favour?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
"There's a guy called Logan Cale...he's.." she hesitated and looked up at me sadly. "He's my boyfriend. He thinks I'm dead. If you go anywhere near Seattle, can you tell him that I'm ok? And that I love him?"  
  
"Sure Maxie." I'd do anything for her, and she knew it.  
  
"He lives in Foggle Towers, in Seattle. In the top penthouse. Ok?"  
  
I nodded again. "I'll try my best."  
  
She gave me a hug. "Thanks. For everything. I'll miss you. Can you tell Jondy that I miss her too, WHEN you see her again?" she pulled back and raised her eyebrows at me.  
  
"Of course. It was great seeing you, Maxie. I'll miss you too." I kissed the top of her head. "Are you leaving too?"  
  
"No, I think I'll stay at the High Place for a while. My breeding partner's an asshole, but he won't get me in trouble, surprisingly." Max absent- mindedly smoothed back her hair. "He's Ben's clone, did you know that?"  
  
"Really? 211 is Jondy's clone."  
  
"Talk about coincidence!"  
  
I nodded and ruffled her hair, not wanting to leave. "Bye Max."  
  
She cast her gaze downwards. "Bye."  
  
I forced myself to turn around and go. Thinking of what Renfro might do to me if I was late for the mission kind of helped. In a weird way I was excited about going on the mission. Apart from the fact that I was going with Tyra, it was a lot better than being in Manticore. I was also curious about the Familiars. Was it them who had planted the tracking device on me? How did they know what I was, and what did they want? I had a feeling there was more to it then what Renfro was telling us. I mean, if they wanted me and Tyra to lead them to Manticore, why were they shooting at us like they wanted to kill us? It made no sense, and it scared the hell out of me. 


	4. Life Goes On Or not

TO CHAOSTI: I have absolutely no idea what "And Jesus Bought a Casserole" means, which is probably the case for everyone else out there! It had absolutely nothing to do with Jesus ( the episode I mean ) or casseroles...oh I know, maybe since Zack died he went to heaven with Jesus and...there were no casseroles in heaven so..Jesus went to buy one?? I'm glad I surprised you with the clone thing! Max's whole unit was supposed to have clones, so I thought maybe I'll add the Jondy clone.  
  
A/N: I was wondering if anyone thought that the chapters were too long in this story. Because I have noticed that they are getting longer and longer and longer, almost to the point where you might go blind while reading it and I might go blind while writing it...so tell me if you think they're too long. Hey, that means that you would have to review...damn, aren't I sneaky? :0) Kidding.  
  
************* CHAPTER FOUR *************  
  
JONDY  
  
I stood at front of the door of Syl and Krit's apartment with growing excitement. I couldn't believe I was finally going to see them after all these years. And it wasn't going to be one of those situations where I would see them for a few minutes, give them a hug, leave and not see them for another 5 years, like during a few of the rescue missions I had gone on with Zack. I was going to live with them, and I didn't have to worry about me or Corey's lives being on the line, or being separated from them. The threat was gone. Or at least for now it was.  
  
There was one problem though - Zane wasn't here. If he was, everything would have been perfect. Zane, Krit and Syl had been best friends back in Manticore. They were the clowns of the group, always trying to make the others laugh when they were down ( which was most of the time ), always bickering about anything and everything. Zack had thought they were too silly for their own good, but I know he'd always try to hide his amusement when they got up to mischief. Zane would've loved to be here, I knew he had missed them terribly. The same way that I missed Max. After we escaped there had been no one for him to joke around with, I mean, there was me and Corey - we'd had our share of fun times - but I knew it was never quite the same.  
  
Corey, who was fidgeting around beside me, tugged at my fingers. "Can I knock on the door?" he begged.  
  
I nodded, not bothering to hide my amusement. "Sure honey."  
  
He rammed his tiny little fist on the door with a look of pure delight on his face. It didn't produce much of a noise, but with Krit and Syl's X5 hearing I was pretty sure they could hear it. I snorted with laughter, despite all the crap we had been through. It was amazing how something so simple could make him so happy.  
  
My son gave me a weird look. I poked my tongue out at him playfully. Suddenly, I heard a loud scuffle of movement from behind the door. A few seconds later the door flung open to reveal a petite woman with shoulder length, golden blond hair.  
  
I figured that this woman was Syl, when she shrieked, "JONDY!" and threw her arms around me.  
  
I hugged her just as fiercely, she had no idea how much I had missed her. And from the way she was acting it seemed like she had missed me just as much.  
  
"Hey Syl!" I laughed, while she jumped up and down with excitement, still clutching onto me. I was fast running out of oxygen. "Um. Syl. Need. Air!" I choked out.  
  
Syl took a step back, her eyes widening. "Oh man, I'm sorry. I just haven't seen you for SO LONG..." She gasped, suddenly noticing Corey who was staring up at her like she was the evil boogey man. "Hello, you must be Corey!" she cried rapturously, bending down to his level. "Oh, you're so cute!"  
  
Corey let out a terrified squeak and made a mad dash towards the back of my legs. He cowered behind me in fright, trying to get as far away from Syl as possible.  
  
"Corey!" I half scolded him. I was really surprised. Usually he warmed up to people really fast, sometimes he even said hello to complete strangers on the street.  
  
I picked him up and he buried his head into my shoulder. He probably thought that if he couldn't see Syl, then she wouldn't be able to see him. Not true, obviously. "Corey, this is your Aunt Syl. You don't need to be scared of her." I nudged him with my nose when he didn't reply. "Corrrreeyyy." I called gently.  
  
"Mmmm." He whimpered, squirming.  
  
I sighed in defeat. "Sorry Syl. He's tired and he hasn't eaten. He's been grumpy the whole way here." I was beginning to feel worn out myself. I hadn't slept for a few days. I had taken advantage of my nocturnal DNA and kept watch while Corey had slept in a car that I had stolen to get here. I was so paranoid and so scared that Manticore would be waiting around the corner. It was Corey I was more worried about though - what were they going to do to him if they found out he was the kid of two X5s?  
  
Syl gave an embarrassed smile. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by laughter.  
  
"There's just something about Syl that always makes the kids run away screaming." A male voice said jokingly. "Maybe they're trying to tell you something."  
  
Syl whirled around to slap Krit, who had suddenly appeared while we were talking and who was now leaning against the doorframe. She hit him squarely in the jaw, putting a lot of her X5 strength into it.  
  
"SHIT!" yelled Krit, backing away quickly while holding one hand against his reddened cheek. "Feisty!"  
  
"Krit! Don't swear in front of Corey!" Syl snapped viciously, sounding very much like a mother telling off her teenage son. "And as for what you said before, don't think you'll get away with that!"  
  
Krit toddled towards me, looking like a wounded puppy dog. "Jondy." He sniveled dramatically. "I'm so glad you came. A few more days and I'd be dead from all the abuse I get from that mad woman. You gotta protect me!"  
  
Syl rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Oh PUH-LEASE."  
  
I giggled, loving the way that they could put me into a good mood even though I had only been here for less than five minutes. Yep, they were still the same Krit and Syl I had known back in Manticore, only happier. All the darkness and anger and fear had disappeared from their eyes.  
  
Corey lifted his head up for a second to cast a wary glance at Krit. I wondered what was going through his head. Maybe he thought that he belonged to a family of people who were all mentally disturbed. Krit gave Corey a small wave and returned to giving me a pleading look.  
  
I turned to Syl. "Isn't it great living with a male X5?" I lowered my voice so that I could be sure only she and Krit could hear. "You can beat them up whenever you want." I grinned evilly. I gave Krit a playful punch and a wink.  
  
Krit's jaw dropped. "You're all evil!" he wailed, turning on his heel and walking back into his apartment in defeat. "I don't like you. It's a conspiracy! That's it. I'm sleeping with a baseball bat from now on..." his voice got quieter as he disappeared.  
  
I gave Syl a questioning look. She shrugged it off, like this was a completely normal thing for Krit to do. A few seconds later Krit appeared again, and this time he greeted me with open arms.  
  
I got a better look at him this time. He was just a stereotypically gorgeous guy. Tall, dark and handsome. Ok, maybe not all that tall, but dark and handsome. Krit had always been one of the shorter boys, and Zane one of the tallest. Syl was really beautiful too. I was sure that she must've had her share of sleazy "compliments" from all the guys out there.  
  
"How are you Jondy? Did you get here ok?" he asked, now sounding more like the Krit I had talked to on the phone a couple of days ago. I realized that he was genuinely concerned.  
  
"Yeah, it took you a while. We thought something might've happened to you guys." Syl said seriously. She came up behind Krit and slipped her arms around his waist, her blue eyes peering over his shoulder at me. From this gesture it was clear that they were "together". I hadn't asked about it before, but from the way they were arguing before you wouldn't think they could even stand to be in the same room for two seconds.  
  
"And your phone was disconnected." Krit finished off.  
  
"Oh, right," I recalled the events from the last few days. "I took a detour, and I drove all over the place. Just in case THEY were following. I disconnected my phone just in case they could track me. And this little one was whining the whole way, weren't you?" I squeezed Corey gently, realizing that he was asleep.  
  
"Awwww." Syl whispered happily. "He's adorable!"  
  
"And exhausted. Better go inside. You can put him to bed." Krit said, beckoning for me to go inside the apartment. He took Syl's hand and led her inside too.  
  
"Hey, guys." I said softly, tears filling my eyes. They both turned to look at me. "Thanks so much. You don't know what this means to me, not having to be alone..."  
  
"It's nothing," Syl hugged me as best she could while Corey was sleeping in my arms. "Anything for our baby sister and our nephew."  
  
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Krit kissed the top of Syl's head and wrapped his arms around both of us.  
  
I rested my head against his shoulder, feeling safe because I knew Syl and Krit would protect me and Corey, no matter what. We'd had a lot of bad luck lately but I knew that it could always have been worse. Corey could've been taken to Manticore. I held him closer to me and shuddered at the thought of my precious little boy being cut up.  
  
I couldn't bear to think what I would've done if Krit hadn't called me, I had no one to turn to - Zane was gone, and so was Zack. I didn't know where any of my other siblings lived and Zack hadn't given me any of their numbers. I had absolutely no idea how Krit had gotten my number but at that moment I didn't care. I was just so grateful that I didn't have to be alone. Silently I thanked the Blue Lady. Maybe she was there after all. Now all I needed to know was whether or not my husband was ok.  
  
******************************************  
  
I turned over in bed, half asleep with the blankets tangled up between my legs. The bed was surprisingly soft - with the Pulse and all no one had enough money to make good mattresses ( well, I guess there WERE people that had enough money, but they were probably drug lords who had better things to do than sell mattresses ), let alone buy one so I had grown used to sleeping in a bed where the springs dug into me. When I asked Syl how they could afford to buy such good beds ( not to mention so many ) on their low salaries, she just said that they got income from "elsewhere". I didn't even bother to ask.  
  
We were lucky that Syl and Krit had a spare room. Most people I knew couldn't even afford one. But then again, Detroit, the place where me and Zane and Corey had lived, had been hit much worse by the Pulse than the place we were in now, Manhattan. Apparently they had gotten it so that if Zack rocked up suddenly to check in on them he would have a place to sleep.  
  
Corey slept peacefully on the opposite end of the small room in another bed. He stirred every now and then, his hair was all mussed up from scrunching his head into the pillow. Thank God he had inherited Zane's sleeping patterns. If he had gotten mine, we would have had a lot of trouble putting him to sleep, what with my nocturnal DNA and all. I, on the other hand, couldn't get to sleep at all, even though I was so tired.  
  
I just couldn't stop THINKING about things. Thoughts kept bombarding my mind, which was crying out for a rest. Of course, I was worried about Zane. I missed him terribly, and I knew Corey did as well.  
  
A violent image of Zane being tortured filled my head. "Tell me where the others are!" a Manticore official roared while beating him mercilessly with a crow bar. Beating him. Over and over. Blood spurted everywhere. But that didn't stop the Manticore official, he knew that Zane would heal overnight. A woman watched him from the corner of the room, an evil smile on her face. She had blond hair. She looked like...me. Exactly like me. And she just watched as Zane was bashed to near-death as if it where another stupid sitcom on TV...  
  
"Zane..." I moaned fretfully, calling out to him. The sound of my voice woke me up. Disoriented, I slid my hand over to the other side of the bed, expecting Zane to be lying there next to me, expecting his warm presence to be there so that I could snuggle against him and know that everything was alright. Instead, there was nothing. Just air.  
  
What was that I just saw? A nightmare? I dismissed the thought of it being some kind of supernatural thing, like on TV where there were shows about people having premonitions and stuff. I didn't believe in that stuff. I was a Manticore soldier for crying out loud, we only believed in the technical stuff. I just hoped to God that what I had just seen wasn't happening. But then again Manticore could do pretty much anything they wanted to their soldiers - kill them, beat them, stick tubes into them. Maybe I had hallucinated. Damn I was tired.  
  
I grabbed my pillow and cradled it with my arms, wishing so badly that it was Zane instead. I would do anything to have him here, safe and alive. My poor baby, I thought. I should have helped you, I should have helped you. I'm so selfish. Tears welled up in my eyes, just like before, but this time they managed to slide silently down my cheeks. I sniffed a little and buried my head into the pillow. I drifted off and this time I had a nightmare for real....  
  
It was the year 2019. I stood in the kitchen of the apartment me and Zane shared, holding a bottle of really strong sleeping tablets. I knew I had to take them before I did something stupid, but I really didn't want to.  
  
I was in heat, and Zane had gone with Zack to get Ben out of a mess he'd gotten himself into. Great timing huh? I stared at the sleeping tablets. It was so hot in here. I needed to get outside.  
  
I had been in heat for two days now and I'd kept myself locked up here. I wasn't too happy. Knocking myself out on sleeping tablets for days on end was something I didn't enjoy doing. Not when I could've been getting some "action" instead. There were a few pieces of furniture that I had thrown around in my frustration. I wanted, no, let me rephrase that, I NEEDED to get into somebody's pants. Right. Now.  
  
Stop it Jondy! You've only got a few hours left at the most, I berated myself. I took a deep breath and poured about five sleeping tablets into my hand. I was about to take them when I sensed something. A man. Walking down the hallway. Right outside.  
  
A huge wave of desire made me lose control completely. I made a beeline for the door and wrenched it open. My next door neighbour gave me a nod hello as he strolled past. Bingo.  
  
He let out a yelp of surprise when I grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him into my apartment with my small but very strong hands. I didn't even know what his name was; all I knew was that he lived a few doors down from me with his wife and his 2 year old son. But at this point I was way past caring. My feline DNA was demanding to be satisfied.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" he cried, his voice tinged with bewilderment and anger.  
  
I slammed the door behind us and proceeded to slide my hands over his chest. He wasn't so bad looking, for an older guy, anyway. Give me Zane any day - he was hot ( Manticore made sure of that ) and I loved him. Not to mention the fact that I knew I wouldn't kill him if I was too rough. But hey, I was desperate.  
  
"I'm looking for some fun, that's what I'm doing," I purred, sounding very much like a slut. I pressed myself against him and tugged at his clothes, my breathing getting heavier by the minute.  
  
"Er..." the man gulped. He'd probably never found himself in such a situation before, and he damn well wasn't going to get out of it until I was finished! "I'm flattered; you're a beautiful girl, but..."  
  
"But what?" I spat out, slamming him up against the wall. "You're married? I tell you what buddy, I don't give a shit! I want some NOW. And since my fiancé is outta town I'm taking matters into my own hands." The man struggled a little, and his eyes, which seemed to have a mind of their own, wandered over my body. He caught himself quickly and tore his gaze away. He seemed to be scolding himself inside his head for being so weak. I laughed. "Do me this little favour and you'll never see me again." I pouted, my eyes pleading. "Unless my fiancé decides to ditch me again when.." I was about to say 'When I'm in heat' but decided against it.  
  
"WHAT?!" he burst out in disbelief. "You're a crazy bitch, you know that? Why don't you go pick up a desperate guy in a bar or something?" Suddenly he got angry. "Bloody hell, get OFF me!"  
  
But I held onto him stubbornly as he grabbed my arms and tried to pry me off. Oh, he wasn't going to get away that easily. He looked stunned at my strength, like I knew he would. I was pretty small for a genetically engineered killing machine. A more suitable job for me was in a café with a short skirt.  
  
I sighed dramatically, getting impatient. "Looks like I'm gonna have to take you against your will, baby." I traced the muscles on his chest with one finger, and then I pretty much attacked him.  
  
As I kissed him forcefully I could feel him resisting. Geez, I thought as I straddled him, was this guy into abstinence or what? At the back of my mind a voice told me to feel sorry for him, I mean, I was practically going to rape the guy! But I told that stupid voice to shut up. Even if I wanted to stop, I couldn't. My hands were ravenous.  
  
All of a sudden he started to kiss me back, hard. He picked me up easily and backed me up against the wall, tugging at my clothes. This is more like it, I thought, pushing my tongue into his mouth. I wrapped my legs around his, trying to get closer.  
  
He pulled back for a second to get some air. Me and Zane could go for at least seven minutes without it, and usually we'd use that to our advantage ( "At least they taught us SOMETHING worthwhile at Manticore," Zane used to say ), but I'd forgotten that this guy wasn't one of us.  
  
As he leaned in to kiss me again, I slid my hands underneath his jacket, only to find a rectangular object in his pocket. I took it out, curiosity getting the better of me.  
  
It was a police badge, the kind that the FBI agents had.  
  
"Ames White," I read out the name on the ID card. I giggled. There was the slut in me again. "I didn't know you were an FBI agent. You better not arrest me after this."  
  
"You don't know what you're getting yourself into girl," was all he managed to gasp out.  
  
"Neither do you," I said honestly, my voice filled with lust. "Brace yourself.".....  
  
I jerked awake with shock. Wow. That had been so real. It almost seemed like it had really happened to me. I thought I knew who that man was. Did I really sleep with him? I couldn't have, I thought, trying to convince myself. There was no way I would have ever cheated on Zane. He was so sweet and I loved him more than anything - why would I ever want anyone else? It was like trading a billion dollars for a plain old stick off a tree. It just didn't make any sense.  
  
You were in heat. The thought was at nagging me from the back of my mind and I tried to ignore it, but I knew it was true. When I was in heat I didn't give a damn who I was with, as long as I got some.  
  
I sat up in bed and stretched, realizing that I'd had enough sleep for the night. The clock on the wall read 1:54pm. I climbed out of bed slowly so that I wouldn't wake Corey up. Damn my nocturnal DNA. I'd love to be able to sleep hours on end like a normal person - staying awake for most of the night got really boring when everyone else was asleep.  
  
At this point I was wide awake and I certainly didn't want to think about the meaning of that dream, though I had plenty of time to waste. It wasn't real. Just a stupid dream. Just a stupid dream.  
  
As much as I tried to convince myself, I couldn't shake off the feeling of recognition and guilt. It all seemed so familiar, but why couldn't I remember it clearly? X5s were meant to have perfect memories after all.  
  
I heard the noise of the tap running from the kitchen. Someone was outside. Someone who couldn't sleep like me. Maybe it was a thief. Or maybe even Manticore. Fighting off a feeling of dread, I crept out the door of the bedroom and walked cautiously to the kitchen, ready to spring into attack if I needed to. There was no way those bastards were taking me, Corey, Krit or Syl back to Manticore - even if it meant I could see Zane again.  
  
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Syl leaning over the sink, splashing her face with water. You idiot, I said to myself. If it was Manticore, why the hell would they switch on the tap?  
  
"Can't sleep Syl?" I said softly, perching on the kitchen bench top. I was glad she was there, I needed the distraction.  
  
Syl whirled around, startled. She hadn't heard me coming. Maybe I was quieter than I thought.  
  
"No," she said simply, her voice a little thick. I took a closer look at her. She'd been crying.  
  
Though I was really concerned, I fought down the urge to cry out "Oh Syl, what's the matter, tell me!" and make a huge fuss over her. I knew she hated it when people saw her cry. All of us Manticore girls were like that. So instead I walked over to her and simply gave her a hug. If she wanted to tell me what was wrong, then she would. I wanted to know what I could do to make her feel better, but I just couldn't force it out of her.  
  
I was glad when Syl didn't try to resist when I put my arms around her. She leant against me and we just stood there in the darkness for a few minutes, while Syl sniffled every now and then.  
  
Suddenly my curiosity got the better of me. "Did you have a fight with Krit?" I murmured.  
  
Syl pulled away, looking surprised. "No, nothing like that." She rubbed her eyes tiredly and headed over to the sofa across the room. I followed and sat down next to her, sensing that she was about to tell me what was on her mind.  
  
My sister grabbed a pillow and held it against her stomach, the way I had before I had the dream. Without looking at me she asked, "Do..do you think Zack hates us for leaving him at Manticore?"  
  
Now it was my turn to be surprised. I turned so that I was on my side, facing her. "No, of course not!" I couldn't believe she was asking that. "I think he'd be more pissed if you had stayed there. It would go against everything he taught us."  
  
"I know, I just..." she began, sounding so pitiful that I thought she might crumble before me. "I keep thinking that we could've done something to prevent it..and maybe..maybe Max would still be alive and Zack would still be here to boss us around." Syl held the pillow tighter. "Lydecker said that once we blew up the DNA lab it would all be over. No more Manticore...but look what happened! Manticore's still alive and kickin', and poor Zane's in there. I'm pretty sure Zack's there too....if he was ok he would've called us by now. I knew it was too good to be true. There's no way that four measly X5s can take down Manticore." She scoffed scornfully.  
  
What brought this on? I thought to myself. She had been her usual, bubbly self when I had first arrived. The Syl sitting next to me, staring into space was the Syl I had known in Manticore. You should have left that old Syl back there, baby sister. I told her silently in my head. Maybe when you went back there she jumped out and possessed you again. Like a ghost.  
  
I put my arm around her, not saying anything. I knew no amount of talking about how "everything would be alright" would make it better. We were X5s and we'd seen way too much.  
  
"You should've seen Maxie's boyfriend when he found out she was dead." She went on sadly. "He was devastated. Shit, when we were driving away in the van, it was so bad. It was like being in a morgue. Everyone was so quiet, and it was so hard to breathe. We didn't know what to do next..."  
  
I only half knew what she was talking about. I presumed that the van was the one they had used to get away in, but the bit about "Maxie's boyfriend" was news to me. "Maxie has a boyfriend?" I was curious, but not so much surprised. We didn't get to get in touch with our feminine side much at Manticore, but I knew Max would turn out to be beautiful. Of course she had a boyfriend.  
  
"Yeah." Syl smiled through her tears. "His name was Logan, I think. Max was lucky. He accepted her for who she was and by the looks of it he really loved her too. He was even willing to help us take down Manticore."  
  
"I hope she was happy." I whispered, half to myself. I didn't get to know Max after the escape, and now that she was dead I would never be able to. I just wanted to know as much about her life as I possibly could. "What else do you know about her? Tell me, please." I said, a note of desperation and sadness in my voice.  
  
Syl gave my hand a light squeeze. "I'm sorry you never got to see her after the escape."  
  
"It's not your fault."  
  
Syl took a deep breath and began, "Well I didn't get much catching up time with her, because we were concentrating on blowing up the DNA lab, you know?" She sighed regretfully. "I thought we'd be able to talk after we did what we had to do. But..well, yeah. You know what happened." Her eyes suddenly had a far away look, as if she were remembering something dear to her heart. "She turned out great Jondy. Her hair was brown and curly, and it was up to her shoulders. And of course she still had that bad ass attitude of hers. She smiled a lot more..."  
  
I shut my eyes and relaxed against the cushions of the sofa, listening intently to Syl's voice just like I used to listen to Ben when I was little.  
  
"She was a bike messenger at this place called Jam Pony, I think." She continued wistfully. "She went against Zack's orders and stayed permanently in Seattle 'cause of that guy Logan."  
  
"Aww. What a rebel!" I chuckled. "Well I guess that makes the two of us then, huh? Zack wasn't too pleased when me and Zane were living together. And then we had Corey-" I gasped suddenly with shock.  
  
Shit.  
  
Oh, NO.  
  
I REMEMBERED.  
  
Memories of the dream that I had earlier hit me hard. Only this time, I knew it was real. It had happened. It had actually happened, no matter how much I wanted to deny it. I could remember everything now - that man Ames White, how Zane had gone away with Zack and left me alone while I was in heat. The only reason why it had been so hazy before was that I had locked the memory away in the darkest, deepest chamber in my mind. I had felt so guilty about what I had done that I had programmed my mind to forget everything about that day. Yeah, for an X5 it's possible to do that. I just didn't want anyone to find out. I wanted to tell him, really I did. Usually I could tell him anything. But using my heat cycle as an excuse for sleeping with someone else seemed too pathetic to even consider and we were so happy and I didn't want it to all go away.  
  
"Jondy!?" Syl cried, shaking me out of my shocked state. "Are you alright?" She grabbed my shoulders and stared worriedly into my eyes.  
  
"Um. Yes. Sorry." I smiled to reassure her, but in reality I wasn't alright. "Just tired, that's all."  
  
My heart pounded so loudly that I began to wonder whether or not Syl could hear it. Suddenly a single, horrible question forced its way into my mind, shoving all my other thoughts out. For a millisecond I forgot all my training, the names of my brothers and sisters, even what country I was in - and all because of this one awful, awful question.  
  
What if Zane wasn't even Corey's father?  
  
******************************************  
  
"Oooh. Bubbles!" Corey giggled. He scooped up a handful of the soapy froth and smeared it onto my face, making him laugh even harder.  
  
Seeing my son playing in the bathtub and having the time of his life really made my day, you know? Especially since he had been spending so much time missing his daddy. We'd been at Krit and Syl's house for over three months now, and I had tried my hardest to be strong for Corey, and let him know that I understood what he was going through, but sometimes..sometimes I just didn't know what to say.  
  
It was amazing how much he understood about what was going on. I mean, he was only three after all. I had explained as much as I could to him without bending the truth too far and he knew that there wasn't a good chance of him seeing Zane again. Sure, Zane would fight as hard as he could to get back to us, but even if he did get out, how would he know where we were? I just wish that for once I could give Corey some good news. It just seemed so unfair, a kid growing up without his father. Zane had been a great father too, and Corey adored him. What did he ever do to deserve this?  
  
Uh, maybe it's because both his parents are X5s, I said grudgingly to myself. Speaking of parents however, I hadn't thought much about the fact that Ames White could've been Corey's father. Even saying that inside my head made me shudder. It was something I had avoided thinking about it in too much detail, partly because of the emotions and confusion it would stir up in Corey if it were true, and partly because I had other, more important things to tend to - like taking care of my son on my own.  
  
Syl and Krit had been great of course. Corey had slowly warmed up to Syl, a process which was sped up mostly because she gave him lots of rainbow swirl ice cream. Krit had taught him how to play baseball and gave him piggy backs up the stairs. I, on the other hand, told him bed-times stories and sung him to sleep every night. So I guess you could say that Corey got all the love that he needed, but it just wasn't the same without Zane.  
  
My attention was brought back to Corey when he yelled, "Look Mommy! I'm a fish!"  
  
I pretended to looked shocked. "WHAT? You never told me you were a fish! Why didn't you tell me you were a fish?" I gasped.  
  
Corey lowered himself into the water so that only his head was visible over the bubbles. "Noooo. I'm only pretending Mommy. I'm a boy, see?" he held up his foot so I could see his toes. "No tail!"  
  
I let out a sigh of relief. "Well that's good. If you were a fish, where would you sleep?" I asked.  
  
He grinned cheekily. "In the bathtub?"  
  
"Maybe," I frowned. "But who is going to protect me at night? What if the MONSTERS get me?" I said, making my voice tremble.  
  
"Aw, Momeeee." Corey giggled, sitting up straight. "There's no such thing as monsters."  
  
"But I'm still scared." I whispered, biting my lip and trying to hold back the laughter.  
  
"Don't worry; I'll protect you from the monsters. I'll go 'Hiiyaaa!' and punch 'em in the nose and then I'll say 'If you ever come near my Mommy again I'll bonk your head in!' and then they'll all run away!" Corey cried. He swung his arms about, as if to demonstrate what he was going to do. Some water splashed onto my top.  
  
"Well I'm so glad you're here." I kissed his wet hair, feeling happy. "Go on; play a bit more before the water gets cold."  
  
Without another word he dunked his head under the water, only his back visible. I watched him as he played with the shampoo bottle and pretended that it was a boat.  
  
Suddenly something black appeared on his back, near his left shoulder. Curious, I adjusted my position on the floor so I could get a better look. To my horror black characters were materializing out of no where on his skin.  
  
I squeezed my eyes shut, and opened them again a few seconds later. The writing was still there, and more was showing up. It was like someone had dipped an invisible brush in ink and was writing something on his back. Something that I definitely didn't understand. It wasn't in any language that I had ever seen before, and Manticore had taught us to read and write practically every language imaginable.  
  
"KRIT!" I yelled, feeling panicky. What the hell was this? I thought. "SYL! GET IN HERE!"  
  
A few seconds later Krit poked his head through the door. When he saw Corey sitting in the bath, he backed out hastily. "Um, am I breaking any laws on pedophilia?" I heard him say from the other side of the door.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry about it. It's a bubble bath, so you won't...see anything. Just take a look at this."  
  
Krit walked in cautiously. "What's the matter?"  
  
I motioned for him to kneel down beside me, and then pointed at the black things on Corey's back silently. As Krit crouched down, Corey turned around and said, "HI!"  
  
"Hey buddy." Krit said, sounding a little confused. He hadn't seen what I had been pointing at.  
  
"Corey, I'm just gonna talk to Uncle Krit for a second, ok? Just keep playing."  
  
Corey shrugged and turned his back to us again, oblivious to what was going on. This time Krit's eyes widened. The three lines of black writing stood out strongly against Corey's white skin.  
  
Krit gave me a questioning look, and I signaled for him to keep quiet. I didn't want to scare Corey.  
  
*What is that?* Krit signaled back.  
  
I shrugged, my eyes worried. *I thought you might know.* I signed.  
  
Krit inspected the writing more closely, trying to think. I could practically hear gears turning in his X5 brain. *Japanese, Chinese maybe?*  
  
I shook my head. It did look similar to Chinese and Japanese, but if it was, we'd be able to read it.  
  
*Maybe it's a dialect* Krit signaled again.  
  
*Well what's it doing on my son?* I signed back fiercely. I knew that some of my whacked up DNA had been passed on to Corey, but I had never had writing appear on my skin before. Well not that I knew of, anyway.  
  
"GUYS!" Syl called excitedly from the living room. "Get in here now! Look at this!"  
  
"No, you get in here and look at this!" I yelled back. Maybe Syl would know what it was.  
  
"You don't understand, IT'S MANTICORE! On TV!" Syl cried. She didn't sound like she was going anywhere any time soon.  
  
Me and Krit exchanged a look.  
  
"Must be that Eyes-Only dude again." groaned Krit as he got up to see what Syl was making such a fuss about. "Show her outside."  
  
I rolled my eyes. Eyes-Only had been trying to expose Manticore for quite a while now. Me and Krit thought he was stupid. No one had ever tried to expose Manticore without getting themselves assassinated in the process. They'd probably send out an X5 to do deal with him quickly and quietly. Syl, on the other hand, thought he was cool.  
  
"Time to get out, sweetie." I snagged a towel in one hand and scooped up Corey with the other.  
  
"But I don't wanna go....I wanna play some more..." Corey's protests were muffled as I wrapped the towel around him and started to dry off his hair.  
  
"JONDY!" Syl hollered persistently.  
  
"Hey Jon, you better come see this!" Krit's voice rang out.  
  
This time I hurried out to the living room, while Corey wriggled and whined in my arms. If what was on the TV had gotten Krit interested, it must've been important.  
  
"What-" I stopped when I saw what was on TV.  
  
A pair of familiar eyes were on the screen, with two bars that said "streaming video bulletin". "Since the early 1990s, billions of your tax dollars have been diverted from legitimate government programs to fund secret experiments in genetic engineering." Eyes-Only started off. "This covert operation is known as Project Manticore. Its goal: to create the perfect soldier, genetically enhanced for superior strength and speed. These children are subjected to relentless training and propaganda. In the winter of 2009, twelve of them escaped from a facility in Gillette, Wyoming. Some of them were captured; some of them were tortured; some gave their lives fighting to stay free. Since these cable hacks began, Manticore has consolidated its operations to a secret location. Manticore, your location has now been revealed. Your secret is out, and you will be held accountable for your crimes. Manticore's facility is located an hour south west of Seattle, and it has recently been burnt down to cover up its secrets." A picture of Manticore showed up on the screen, only all that was left was smoldering rubble. Eyes Only continued to speak. "Manticore attempted to burn the transgenics along with the facility, but failed. Now many of these genetically engineered soldiers are hiding in the forests outside Manticore, fighting for their lives. The government will try to convince you that Manticore was actually a VA hospital that was destroyed in a fire. Don't be fooled. Manticore must be brought to justice. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. Peace. Out." "Un. Be. Lievable." Krit muttered after a long silence.  
  
"It's gone!" squealed Syl. "It's all gone!"  
  
"Zane.." I said softly. My heart constricted and I felt all sorts of emotions all at the same time - happiness, sadness, fear. Maybe...maybe he had gotten out! But what if he hadn't? What if he was buried underneath all that rubble that used to be Manticore?  
  
I paused for a second, and then I said, "That's it. I'm going to look for him."  
  
*****************************************  
  
A/N: Ok, this one wasn't very interesting, but I needed to do this whole angst thing for Jondy. I mean, you don't just lose your husband and then go on living your life normally, right? Oh, and there was also the thing with Ames White and the runes on Corey's back. Tell me what you think. : ) 


	5. From My Father Before Me, For My Sons

To Sam: Yikes! I'm glad you like my story! I was really happy to c ur review ( I couldn't stop laughing! ) so don't worry about wasting the review space - by all means, make 'em longer! Oh and don't be embarrassed about Alec, I love him too! He's gonna be in the next chapter, but there's not going to be THAT much of him considering the story's about Jondy and Zane. They didn't show much of Jondy and Zane in season one, actually they didn't show them AT ALL :o( Jondy was in Pilot for about three seconds, and not like you could tell it was her anyway cos she was BALD! Anyway...on with the story....don't forget to review!  
  
************* CHAPTER FIVE *************  
  
ZANE  
  
"Damn these things are itchy." I muttered grumpily to myself. "How are you supposed to concentrate when your clothes make you feel like you're being attacked by fleas?"  
  
"Stop complaining!" Tyra snapped, shooting a lethal stare in my direction. I had known her for less than a week, but I had already figured out how scary she could get when she was annoyed.  
  
"Was I even talking to you!?" Silence. I rolled my eyes when she didn't reply, and tugged at my clothing. Here we were standing at Ames White's door, pretending to be dishwasher repairmen...or repair people. We were both dressed in overalls that were scruffy looking and very, very uncomfortable. Guess we had to look the part.  
  
But now that I was out of Manticore, what was stopping me from dropping everything and bolting away for my freedom? Well, Max's safety was one thing. But unfortunately, Manticore was smart. What if I decided that my little sister wasn't important anymore, and escaped anyway? They decided to implant some kind of tracking device inside of my head, so that if I decided that my little sister wasn't important anymore and escaped anyway, they'd know where I was. If I was anywhere where I shouldn't be, they'd swoop down and drag me back to Manticore. So I guess I was pretty much stuck. I couldn't go pay a visit to that Logan guy for Max either.  
  
It was only a few hours ago when Director Renfro had given us the details of our mission. Apparently Ames White had a problem with his dishwasher and had scheduled a repairman for today. We were to assume the identity of repairman, get inside White's house, sniff around, bug his phones and blah blah blah. White was conveniently at work, so we could get in without him recognizing us ( though how he knew us was a mystery in itself anyway ).  
  
I glanced towards the thick bushes to my left. Behind them lay the REAL dishwasher repairman, the one that White had actually called, bound and gagged. Poor man, I thought. It wasn't every day that you got attacked by two genetically engineered soldiers on the side of the road.  
  
Suddenly the large wooden door to White's house opened slowly, and a blond woman stood in the doorway.  
  
"Can I help you?" she asked politely. She looked like a decent woman. Nice. Not the type that you would expect to see dating a breeding cult member.  
  
"Is this the house of Ames White?" Tyra said sweetly. Her personality had lost all its viciousness and she actually sounded normal for once. She wanted this woman to trust us, so we could go about our business without her getting suspicious. It was like seeing a kidnapper trying to lure a kid into a car by offering them candy.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"We've come to fix your dishwasher." I filled in, putting on a professional tone. This was all foreign territory for me. I hadn't stayed at Manticore long enough to get released for solo missions, so I hadn't done anything like this before. Well, I had snuck into people's houses to steal things, but that was a whole other story - I hadn't been under orders, I hadn't had another X5 watching my every move and I could've done pretty much anything I wanted. This was different. WAY different. But I guess it wasn't so bad, considering it gave me a somewhat of a distraction from Jondy and Corey.  
  
A look of recognition washed over the woman's face. "Oh right! My husband told me you were coming. I wasn't expecting you so early." She opened the door and beckoned us in. "I'm Wendy by the way. The kitchen's this way."  
  
As we both followed her into the kitchen, I realised how nice the place was. I guess White got a lot of money out of being an FBI agent. There was expensive furniture and it even had a fireplace. From the family photos on the wall it seemed like this guy was into the whole family values thing. It started to make me miss MY family. I felt like I was intruding somehow, like I shouldn't have been there. The place was too comfortable and full of charm to be the home of a corrupt FBI agent.  
  
"All part of the cover-up. His family doesn't really know what he does." Tyra whispered beside me, her hand motioning towards the living room as we walked past it. I shivered slightly. Man, it was like she had read my mind.  
  
"Alright here it is." Wendy pointed to the dishwasher which was set against the wall of a spacious kitchen. "I don't know what's wrong with it, it just doesn't work. The water doesn't drain out when it has finished washing. We opened it the other day and all the water flooded out." She smiled.  
  
I raised my eyebrows. "Wow. Must've been a big mess to clean up."  
  
Wendy sighed. "Yes, it was. My son used in as an opportunity to go stomping around in the water with his gumboots." Tyra snorted. "Well I guess I'll leave you to it then."  
  
"Oh, um." Tyra interrupted innocently. "Could you show me where the bathroom is? I can't concentrate on a full bladder, if you know what I mean."  
  
"Sure, right this way."  
  
Tyra shot me a warning look over her shoulder as they walked away. This was my cue to go bug all the phones in the house while Tyra snuck into White's office. I made myself look busy by taking the dishwasher out of the hole in the bench top and opening in up. When they were both out of earshot, I got up and searched for the telephones.  
  
I didn't have to go far. There was one conveniently hanging next to the fridge. I fiddled around with it and within thirty seconds I was finished. Easy.  
  
The sound of footsteps in the hallway forced me to resume my position next to the dishwasher. Damn, I wouldn't be able to search the rest of the house. I stuck my head inside the dishwasher and began to fix it. Yeah, I actually had to fix the damn thing. Now I knew why they used to teach us all that technical stuff before we escaped in '09.  
  
"Found the problem?" The voice made me jump out of my skin. It wasn't Wendy, I was sure of that. It had been a man's voice.  
  
I came back into the light to find the same man that was on the computer screen in the debriefing room, looking down at me critically. Ames White. Uh oh. He was supposed to be at work.  
  
"Yeah, I was just about to fix it." I said. I felt cold all of a sudden. White was staring at me in acute shock, like he saw something that I didn't. "Am I really that ugly?" I raised my eyebrows questioningly, pretending that I had never seen him in my life and that I was just there to do my job.  
  
White blinked, and then resumed his normal authoritive tone. He was just like a male version of Renfro. "No. You just look familiar, that's all. I think we used to live in the same apartment block, a while back."  
  
I frowned, racking my memory and at the same time wondering why he was being so friendly. He knew I was a transgenic, supposedly, and he hated transgenics. What was the deal? Keep talking to him, the soldier in me said. Tyra's searching his office. Don't want him bustin' in unannounced.  
  
"Yes, I definitely remember. It was back in 2019. You were with your girlfriend...that blond one." He prompted me.  
  
I suddenly had a brainwave. Yes, I did remember. It was in Chicago, but we moved to Detroit when Jondy was about to have Corey. What should I say? I thought. My X5 brain shot all sorts of possible answers at me. We..broke up? No you idiot, you can't say that! Duh, Tyra looks exactly like Jondy. He's not going to buy "I'm working with her identical twin sister." Oh, fuck. I had to be VERY careful about what I said next.  
  
"Yeah, I remember you too. I guess I kinda blocked out all the events from that year, you know? It was a really tough ordeal for both of us." I nodded knowingly.  
  
White suddenly looked startled. "I don't mean to intrude, but..what...ORDEAL, exactly?" he asked in a deadly tone of voice.  
  
I sighed dramatically, ignoring his penetrating gaze. "Well you see, I kinda found out I was gay. She never quite forgave me, but considering that we work at the same company, we had to put our differences aside. But don't say anything to her about it. She doesn't like to talk about it much." I desperately tried to keep a straight face.  
  
For some reason White seemed relieved. "Oh, she's here?" White said casually.  
  
"Yeah she's...turning off the water at the main." I lied. Don't go to your office. Don't. Stay here. "I'll just go check on her. She can be quite useless sometimes." I gave him a fake smile and walked off, leaving him standing there. Just as I left his cell phone rang. Good, I thought. Stay there, while I find Tyra.  
  
The fact that I had no idea where White's office was didn't help. I padded silently through the hallways, sticking my head into every room. Nothing. Then I came to a staircase and walked up. Luckily the house was full brick, so I didn't have to worry about the stairs creaking under my weight. I stood on the top stair, concentrating hard. The sound of a filing cabinet being closed came from one room on my left. I knew it was Tyra, because the sound was barely audible, even with my X5 hearing. If it had been Wendy, or any other human they wouldn't have made such an effort to be so quiet.  
  
I crept over to the wooden door, ducking as I passed a window framed by flowery pink curtains. Standing next to a hug blue pot with some kind of weird looking plant in it, I began to tap Morse code very quietly on the door with the tip of my finger. *Emergency*  
  
The movement inside stopped for a moment. I heard some one walk closer to the door. Suddenly the door opened a crack and a hand flew out and dragged me inside roughly. White's office was large but quite plain, with cream coloured walls. It had a filing cabinet in the corner, shelves everywhere, and a large desk with a laptop, and a messy scattering of papers, pens and a framed photo of his wife and kid. Behind it were some large French windows and a small balcony.  
  
Tyra heaved me against the wall with one hand. "What is it?" she demanded.  
  
I shoved her off me and stood up properly, straightening my T-shirt as she back off a few paces. "White's in the house. He saw me." I said quietly.  
  
"What?" Tyra groaned. She strode over to the other side of the desk looked at something on the screen of the laptop, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. She was probably downloading the files off the computer or something. "Did he recognize you?"  
  
"Duh. He tried to kill me, remember?" I shuffled through some of the papers on the desk, reading them and checking to see if they were of any use to us. Nothing but boring police paperwork. "Uh, shouldn't we be standing away from the windows? This guy's loaded; he probably has a security camera somewhere."  
  
"Don't worry, I hacked into the security system already. I fed it a loop." She began clicking furiously on some files on the computer.  
  
I raised my eyebrows. Wow, that was quick. And impressive. Not that I'd actually say that to her face though. She was already obnoxious enough as it was. Instead I said tentatively, "..I used to live in the same apartment block as him, in 2019." I wasn't sure if I should've told her or not - how was she going to react, and could I trust her?  
  
Tyra shot me a weird look from her position in front of the computer. Weird, and pissed. "What? Why didn't you say something before, moron?"  
  
"I didn't remember!" I defended myself. "He was the one who brought it up. It's not like you remember every single on of your next door neighbours...I moved around a lot." I added untruthfully. "To keep off Manticore's radar." Well, I had used to move around a lot, but them I hooked up with Jondy. But I wasn't going to say anything about that.  
  
"Oh, there must've been something real special about you that made him remember you from four years ago." She muttered. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Suddenly she burst into action, taking out a CD from the laptop and then shutting it down. "Good. All done. We gotta get out of here before - " She stopped, motioning for me to be quiet.  
  
I heard it too. The sound of footsteps in the hallway, heading towards the room. Tyra rolled her eyes and looked at me. I pointed to the French windows, and we managed to open them and leap over the railings of the balcony just as the person walked into the room. We both landed softly on the perfect green lawn, and darted under the balcony so that we remained unnoticeable.  
  
Above us, the person began to make a phone call. It must've been from a cell phone, because I couldn't remember there being a phone up there. I heard the beeping sound of the buttons being pressed, and it translated to - 0409 892 635. ( A/N: I don't know how many numbers they use in America, so I'm just gonna use the Australian way - 10 numbers. )  
  
I saw Tyra listening in curiously on the phone call as well, as someone picked up the phone on the other end.  
  
"From our ancestors. For our children's children." A man said.  
  
"From my father before me. For my sons." White's voice rang out above us.  
  
I gave Tyra a questioning look, as if to say, what the hell are they going on about? She shrugged, looking as confused as I was.  
  
"What is it that you want?" the unidentified man asked.  
  
"I have the boy's father. He's in my house. And apparently, so is his mother." White said.  
  
"What?" the man sounded surprised. "I thought you sent the Familiars to get rid of them."  
  
"Well, they got away. Do we have any Familiars in the area?"  
  
"A few actually. Georgia Connors. Earl Warwick. Just to name a few."  
  
"Good. I'll get them to finish the job. They just ordinary humans. They're no match for a Familiar."  
  
"Ames?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Have you got the boy?"  
  
"No. But I know where he is. He's with his mother."  
  
"I thought you said the mother was in your house."  
  
"She is." White insisted. "But I have four Familiars keeping watch over them. The boy and his mother are living with some friends, but the Familiars assure me that she hasn't left there."  
  
"If she hasn't left, then what is she doing in your house?"  
  
"I don't know. I haven't actually seen her, but the father told me that she was. I'll get to the bottom of this."  
  
"Remind me again why you are going to so much trouble to get the boy."  
  
"I think he may be the Chosen One. We need him for The Coming."  
  
"What about Ray? Isn't he your third child? Did you not sacrifice your first two, because of the tradition?"  
  
"Yes, but the Runes should have appeared by now."  
  
"So you think the boy is the Chosen One. The Familiars have followed the same tradition for thousands of years, Ames. Wendy was chosen for you, and you had a child with her. That's the way it's was supposed to be. Tradition. That...that affair you had with the boy's mother - how can you be sure the child is even yours? And if he is, then what are the odds of some love-child being the Chosen One? I think you're getting way off the track here."  
  
"Look, I'll do a DNA test, to check if the boy is mine. And I know this sounds crazy, but I think there is more to that woman than meets the eye. I'll kill the boy's father and check out the boy and his mother."  
  
The other man sighed. Looks like Ames was set in his ways. "Alright. Stay in touch, if you find anything."  
  
"I will. Fe'nos tol."  
  
"Fe'nos tol."  
  
And with that White hung up.  
  
I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, scared, confused and unable to move. At that moment I could've thought of a million questions to ask Ames White. The boy. His mother. The boy's father. Was that me? It had to be. In a way it made perfect sense, but then again, it didn't. Normal humans? Us? Call us what you want, but we were definitely not normal. And what was that about the Chosen One? The Coming? LOVE-CHILD!?  
  
Tyra seized my arm. "Let's get outta here! Looks like our cover's been blown." She said urgently.  
  
"And abandon the mission?" I snapped irritably, pretending that I was shocked that she would do such a thing.  
  
Tyra glowered at me, looking like she wanted to give me a good hard slap in the face, but she didn't. I hardly concentrated as we darted towards the bushes and made our way towards the "Dishwashers R Us" ( yeah, I know, it was corny, but it was part of the disguise ). We both leapt in, me in the drivers seat and Tyra next to me. I drove away like a bat out of hell.  
  
"Go to that motel room that we're supposed to be staying in. We'll check in with Renfro and tell her that we need to relocate." Tyra ordered, fiddling with something in her back pocket. "And for fuck's sake, be a little discreet about your driving, huh?"  
  
"White just said that he was going to send some Familiars to kill us! I think that's a good reason to get out of here as fast as we can!" I protested, but I slowed down anyway. I wasn't in the mood to fight. I wanted to think. I knew that White had been talking about me, Jondy and Corey. But why? What did we have to do with some whacko breeding cult? Well, maybe it was the fact that both the Familiars and me and Jondy were connected to Manticore, but for some reason I thought there was something else to it.  
  
"Alright. Spill." Tyra demanded. She stared at me intently. She knew something was going on. "I know you're not telling me something."  
  
I kept my eyes on the road. "I'm not obliged to tell you anything. It's none of your business." I replied darkly.  
  
Before I had any time to react she reached over grabbed my throat, completely blocking off any air that might have wanted to get through. And I swear, she had a grip like a vice. Pain shot through me, causing me to swerve dangerously to one side of the road.  
  
"It most certainly IS my business!" she hissed into my ear. She didn't seem to care that any moment now we were going to cause an accident. I tried my hardest to keep control of the van. "For some reason White has some kind of fascination with your FAMILY." She spat out the word like it tasted revolting. "I'm not stupid! Don't think I don't know what he's going on about..." To my relief she let go of me, and slumped back onto her chair. "The boy's father." She muttered with a hint of amusement in her voice. "So where are your kid and your wife now, huh?"  
  
I braked suddenly with the shock of what she had just said. The car jerked forward, and I heard the honks of some very annoyed drivers behind me. What the hell? How did she know? How could she possibly know?  
  
I maneuvered the car over to a parking space, and turned to face Tyra, anger flaring in my eyes. "What makes you think that White was talking about me?" I yelled at her.  
  
Tyra folded her arms and glared back at me. "Well DUH! Why do you think we just abandoned the mission! Who else would he have been talking about? We were the only people in the house other than him and Wendy!" she stated matter-of-factly. "It just all fits in!"  
  
"No, I don't think you were listening properly. He said we were normal humans! In case you haven't noticed - WE AREN'T NORMAL HUMANS! WE AREN'T NORMAL ANYTHING! And he knows that we're transgenics, so he couldn't have been talking about us." I rattled on, trying desperately to convince her and maybe at the same time convince myself.  
  
Flashback  
  
"That...that affair you had with the boy's mother - how can you be sure the child is even yours? And if he is, then what are the odds of some love- child being the Chosen One?"  
  
End Flashback  
  
I shuddered, not wanting to remember what that man had said to White over the phone. If what he had said was true and assuming that he was talking about Jondy...did that mean...oh man...did that mean that Jondy had an affair with Ames White? Did that mean that Corey might not even be my son? Tyra was right, it DID all fit in. After all, in 2019 we had lived in the same apartment block as White...  
  
"And," I continued to keep my mind off the horrible thought, "If I'm the father, then that must make you the mother. And I know for a fact that I haven't had a kid with you!" You are overreacting, you are overreacting, I told myself.  
  
Tyra heaved a sigh of exasperation, and lifted herself up a little so that she could retrieve a brown paper bag from her back pocket. "For an X5, you sure aren't very bright," she said, and emptied the contents of the bag onto my lap. "You might not have had a kid with me, but you had one with her."  
  
What she said confused me, until I took a look at what was on my lap. Photos. My heart skipped a beat. Photos of JONDY. And Corey too.  
  
Unable to speak, I picked them up and leafed through them one by one. There was one of Jondy and Corey walking down a street. Another one of some dark haired guy giving Corey a piggy back. I took a closer look and realised it was Krit.  
  
They're with Krit, I thought, and moved on to the next photo. It was of Jondy crouching down to tie Corey's shoelace. The next one showed another blond girl - Syl, I think - giving Corey a huge hug. A smile tugged at my lips. She was practically strangling the poor thing. The rest of them were all of Jondy and Corey. Mostly Corey, with a few close-ups. He looked like he was having fun. He was happy.  
  
I moved to another photo of Jondy. She was wearing a denim jacket and black pants, and damn, was she beautiful. I stared at her face for a while, forgetting about my surroundings. I wanted so badly to be with her, so that I could ask her whether or not she really had an affair. And I wanted her to promise me that it wasn't true. I wanted her to tell me that she'd love me forever, no matter what happened, 'cause I knew I would - love her forever, that is - whether she had an affair or not.  
  
"So, your darling wife went off with another man, did she?" Tyra drawled in a mocking tone. "I guess I shouldn't get married then. Maybe adultery is in our genes. I AM her clone, after all -"  
  
I couldn't control the fury that was building inside me, and I just flew at her. What would it take to make you shut up, you insensitive little fuck wit!  
  
I swear, I wanted to kill her...but before I managed to get to her she gasped loudly with shock. I stopped and gave her a strange look.  
  
She was grabbing at her throat, looking pretty much terrified. Unusual for an X5 like her.  
  
"What are you doing?" I snapped.  
  
*Help* she signaled urgently. She seemed like she was in unbearable pain. Was she having a heart attack or something?  
  
Suddenly Tyra's head smashed against the glass window as if some invisible force had done it, and she was knocked unconscious. At the same time, I was flung against the side of the car and pinned in mid-air.  
  
What the...?  
  
I struggled as hard as I could to move, but whatever was holding me there was way too strong. I managed to reach over and press the emergency button ( it sent a signal over to Manticore to say that we were in trouble and needed help ) with my foot. Hey, I didn't know what else to do. It's not like we were trained for this kind of situation - being attacked by something invisible.  
  
The door on Tyra's side jerked open suddenly. A man and a woman, who were quite nicely dressed, stood there staring at me.  
  
"So, you're our next victim, huh?" The man deadpanned as the woman proceeded to drag Tyra out of the car.  
  
"Where are you taking her?" I demanded. What was going on?  
  
"Don't worry, we'll take good care of your wife." The woman laughed.  
  
Damn, I thought, these must be the Familiars that were sent to kill us. Well, at least if they didn't know that Tyra wasn't actually my wife, then maybe Jondy and Corey would be safe..shit, the pictures, where were they?  
  
"What do you want with my son?" I shouted angrily. I swear, if they hurt him...  
  
"You don't have to worry about that, 'cause you'll be dead!" The man lifted his hand up and very precisely made a squeezing motion with it. All of a sudden, I could breathe. He was choking me to death! Now I understood what had been happening to Tyra a few minutes ago. It was as if some invisible hand had wrapped around my throat, and damn, did it hurt!  
  
All I could do was hang there helplessly, choking, and wondering what the hell these people were. And why Ames White had some kind of weird obsession with Jondy and Corey.  
  
Suddenly behind me there was a screech of tires and a black limousine pulled up behind me. Manticore. I didn't think I would live to see a day where I was actually glad to see them.  
  
The man looked alarmed and dropped me. I slumped back onto my seat, gasping for air. My throat ached. When I looked up again, the man, woman and Tyra had disappeared.  
  
Someone knocked on the window of the van. I saw one of the Manticore officials standing outside.  
  
"Soldier, what's your situation? And where's 211?" he demanded.  
  
"I..They took her. The Familiars." I struggled to catch my breath. "They were gonna kill us."  
  
******************************************  
  
A few hours later I stood in the debriefing room at Manticore, again. Brin and Renfro were there with me. I kept sneaking glances at Brin every time Renfro looked away. They were so quick that an Ordinary like Renfro wouldn't be able to see them anyway.  
  
Brin looked so different. She definitely wasn't the Brin I had known in '09. She held herself differently somehow, she was..arrogant. Before the escape she was so little, and so scared. Ok, I knew that she was one of them now, but the real Brin had to be in there somewhere.  
  
"Interesting." Renfro stood leafing through the photos of Corey and Jondy, looking mildly surprised and pleased. I took all of my willpower to refrain from grabbing them off her. "Three X5s and the kid of two X5s. VERY interesting." She looked me in the eye and said in a somewhat mocking tone - "Nice find, 205. If we bring these guys in, it'll make up for losing X5- 656."  
  
You were the one that killed her in the first place, bitch! I wanted to yell. Instead I said "Yes, ma'am."  
  
"But first, we'll deal with these Familiars." She dropped the photos onto the table and paced around the room. "You said that White thought you and 211 were just normal humans, is that correct, 205?"  
  
"Yes, ma'am."  
  
"So it seems like he's more interested in 210 and the kid. We'll leave them as bait first, and we'll move from there. 734?" she addressed Brin.  
  
"Yes, ma'am?"  
  
"You will be taking over the mission. And 205, don't think you won't get punished for not telling us about 210." My stomach churned with guilt. I kept telling myself that I shouldn't have told Renfro about what me and Tyra had discovered, but they would've tortured it out of me anyway. Now I had given their positions away ( they were able to find out where Jondy and Corey were from the photos ) and Manticore had sent out a team of X6s to make sure that they were constantly under surveillance and that they didn't go anywhere. I had put them in even more danger!  
  
Her cell phone rang and she picked it up straight away. "What?"  
  
"Ma'am, we have some bad news concerning X5-210." I heard someone say on the other line. My heart pounded with fear and worry. What if she was dead?  
  
"What happened soldier?"  
  
"Well, the X6s that you sent to watch over her...they're dead."  
  
"What? Dead? All of them? That's impossible!"  
  
"No ma'am. They all got killed. Every single one of them."  
  
****************************************** 


	6. Hey Sista

A/N: Bibbiddy_boo(), thanks for picking up my mistake! I totally forgot about Jace's baby! I'm so bad. Was Jace's baby a girl or a boy? I only remember her saying that she was gonna call it Max, whether or not it was a boy or girl. Anyway, maybe I'll fix it up, if I remember. I can be a bit scatter brained at times. Oh, and can someone please tell me what in the world "Aiight" means? I see it every where, like in "The Kids are Aiight." At first I thought it was a spelling mistake, but now I dunno.  
  
************ CHAPTER SIX ************  
  
ZANE  
  
Ok, something fishy was going on. MORE than fishy. For one thing, it was 1:37 in the afternoon and right in the middle of training we were all sent back to the barracks and locked inside. Every single one of us - the X5s, X6s, X7s and X8s. Definitely something going on there.  
  
I rattled the heavy metal door, knowing that doing the action was useless because it was locked anyway. The door could only be opened by a keycard, which all the guards had, or it could activated using a computer which was..well, I dunno. Probably in Renfro's office or something.  
  
After looking outside to see if there were any guards and finding the hallway empty, I sat down on my bed, feeling restless. There was still of a lot of adrenalin pumping through me from running through the forest with a gun in my hand.  
  
I had been back at Manticore for just over four months now after I got back from the mission, and, basically, nothing new had happened. Or anything interesting for that matter. Well, I did get the shit beaten out of me by the Manticore officials for failing my mission and not telling the whole truth about Jondy and Corey. They used a crow bar on me mainly. You'd think that with all the technology they had, that they would've tried something better - like ripping my teeth out or electrocution. All I can say is that I had been avoiding any punishments from then on by being a good little soldier.  
  
Oh, and Tyra hadn't been found either. It was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth. I couldn't help but feel a little concerned for her, despite the awful comment that she had made about Jondy that would've resulted in me ripping her apart had the two Familiars not arrived.  
  
Speaking of Jondy, there was no news on her either. I was pretty sure that she hadn't been brought in to Manticore, because Renfro ( the cruel little bitch ) would've called me up to her office to gloat. But for all I knew, Jondy and Corey could've been killed by the Familiars...or...only God knows what. I didn't even no why the X6s that were sent to watch her had all mysteriously been killed. Damn it, I didn't know anything! I was so confused about it all - why had Jondy had an affair with White? Did she even have one at all, or was it all just a huge misunderstanding? I just needed to talk to someone. ANYONE! Max, Zack, Jondy, I didn't care. It was lucky that with all the training they put us through in here, I didn't have much time to think about my "issues," because if I did think about it too much, I would've gone to the brink of insanity. And an insane X5 was not a good thing. After all, look at what happened to Ben.  
  
The only comforting thought was the fact that Jondy and Corey were with Krit and Syl. At least I knew they'd be safe....well, at least they would be if there weren't people with freaky super powers and a secret government military agency after them!  
  
Suddenly the sound of an alarm going off made me jump out of my skin with fright. I lifted my head up and sniffed the air. It smelled like smoke. It was unmistakably...FIRE!  
  
A loud noise filled my ears. It sounded like thunder, and it was everywhere, surrounding me. It took me a while to realise that it was all the X5s in the cells around me, pounding on the doors, yelling to be let out. Thick smoke started to billow into the hallways, leaking into the gaps under the doors of the cells.  
  
I choked a little. X5s' senses were a lot more sensitive compared to humans, so even though I couldn't see how close the fire was; I could feel the heat already. Why weren't they letting us out?  
  
I paced around the cramped cell for about ten minutes, thinking I was going to die from smoke inhalation. The noise from the alarm and the X5s pounding and yelling was deafening. There was only one reason why they would burn the place down like this, and not let us out. Someone had exposed Manticore, and now they were going to burn up all the evidence of its existence. In other words, they were just going to kill us all.  
  
I didn't know whether to be happy or sad. I was half happy, because Manticore would be gone and all the fear of being taken back would disappear with it. At least my siblings - the ones that were still alive, that is - would be safer that way. They wouldn't have to constantly look over their shoulders, they wouldn't have to skip town every month or so. They could have normal lives. They'd be free. But then again, I would never see Jondy, or Corey, ever again. That made me sad. That and the fact that all the transgenics that were going to die would never see the outside world, and how wonderful it could be.  
  
But to my great surprise, the door of my cell suddenly swung open by itself. Maybe they decided to let us out after all! Without hesitation I leapt out into the hallway, where a whole swarm of X5s were fighting to get outside.  
  
I let myself get pushed along with the crowd, towards the door which led to the barracks of the X7s. Back in '09 the X7s barracks were used for experiments, a.k.a, us. I remembered - unwillingly - lying on a metal table while the doctors stood over me, passing sharp scalpels around, while I tried to stop myself from shaking with fear.  
  
A huge crash from behind startled me back to reality. A burning chunk of roof had collapsed onto a couple of X5s. No one went to help them. It only made them more violent and eager to get out.  
  
When we finally managed to burst into the next hallways, the X5s began crashing through the windows in order to get outside. They were the same windows that we had used to escape in '09, and this had been the same hallway that Eva had been killed.  
  
For a second I couldn't move. I just stood there remembering how Eva had fallen to the floor in a pool of blood. Then I was shoved straight out the window by someone behind me and the next thing I knew, I had landed on the grass below.  
  
There was chaos everywhere. I had never seen Manticore in such a mess - usually it was straight lines, marching, the whole deal. Now, all of the X series and even some nomalies were running amok, desperately trying to get away from the burning buildings that were once Manticore.  
  
I began to run myself, to get to the perimeter. I didn't know what everyone else was doing, but this would be the only chance I would ever get to escape, and I was not going to take it for granted.  
  
It was not long before I realised that everyone else was doing the same as I was - trying to get to the perimeter. There was shooting going on behind me and every now and then I would see a soldier fall to the ground, dead. I glanced back for a second. It was the TAC leaders that were doing the shooting and it looked as if they wanted to kill as many of us as possible.  
  
After a lot of bullet dodging I managed to make it to the perimeter. I stood before it, ready to leap over when something made me stop.  
  
Max.  
  
Oh shit, was she alright? I turned back to where all the shooting and the shouting and the burning was, stretching my X5 vision so that maybe I would be able to see her through the trees.  
  
"Where are you baby sister?" I said out loud, half expecting an answer. But I got none.  
  
Then I looked out past the wire fence towards freedom. Out there, that was where Jondy and Corey was, and I had to get to them.  
  
"Sorry Max," I whispered, and sailed easily over the fence.  
  
Behind me an X6 managed to make it to the fence as well. She leapt onto it and began clambering over. Suddenly an X7 clone appeared out of no where and shot her, and she fell to the ground, not moving.  
  
I stared at her, stunned, until the X7 caught sight of me and began shooting. I bolted out of there as fast and as far as I could until I realised that he wasn't coming after me. I slowed to a walk and looked around. It was mainly forest for miles around. I knew that I was in Gillette, Wyoming, but I had no idea where to go. And I didn't even know where to begin looking for Jondy and Corey.  
  
Suddenly I remembered that guy, Logan, that Max had told me about. I knew he lived in Seattle, and that was about an hour from here. Maybe I could go and look for him, because I knew that if Max managed to get out, she would most probably go to him eventually. And I really needed to see a friendly face right now.  
  
Then a thought struck me. What if Logan didn't know what Max really was? There was a 99% chance that he didn't, because X5s were trained to keep their identities a secret. I couldn't just rock up there and announce that I was her brother....  
  
"DADDY!" The voice of a little boy made me stiffen and become alert. I looked around for a place to take cover, but there wasn't one.  
  
"DADDY! DADDY, HELP ME!" came the desperate cry again. There was a deep aching in my heart. Damn, he sounded so much like Corey. What was a little kid doing by himself out here anyway?  
  
"DADDDEEEEEEEEEE!"  
  
I sighed, and walked in the direction of the voice. I thought that maybe he needed help or something. He sounded so scared. Anyway, what harm could a little kid do to an X5? He couldn't have been one of the X8s, because, well, they didn't HAVE dads.  
  
I nearly fainted with shock and happiness when I reached the owner of the voice. There he stood in the middle of a small clearing, looking lost and terrified. The last person that I ever expected to see again.  
  
Corey.  
  
"COREY!" I cried, choking with laughter.  
  
When he turned to look at me, his eyes lit up. "DADDY! You came back!" he shouted excitedly, bounding towards me as fast as he could and then crashing into my arms.  
  
I crouched down and wrapped my arms protectively around him. I didn't know why he was here, but I didn't question it. He was safe, and that was all that mattered to me. All I saw was him, and I forgot the fact that he might not even be my son.  
  
"Hey buddy." I whispered into his warm head. "Are you ok? What happened?"  
  
Corey leant back a little so that he could look at me, but I didn't let go of him. "I got LOST!" He said softly, his big brown eyes wide and innocent.  
  
"Lost?" I frowned with worry. "Where's Mommy? Did anything happen to her?" Corey didn't answer. I was getting scared. "Corey, please, tell me where Mommy went. Corey?" Why was he looking at me like that?  
  
I let go of him to take hold of his shoulders, but to my horror, he disappeared.  
  
Yes, disappeared!  
  
I gasped and stared at the empty space before me, where Corey had been standing just moments before. How could he have just vanished like that? It was impossible. I couldn't bear to lose him again, not after all that! It wasn't fair, I only saw him for no longer than thirty seconds!  
  
Maybe I had missed him so much that I had hallucinated. I was going insane after all.  
  
I stood up in a daze, to continue walking, but instead I came face to face with the barrel of a gun.  
  
"Did you like my little trick, 205?" White stood before me smugly. I had been so happy to see Corey that I hadn't even heard him arrive.  
  
In an instant I was surrounded by about twenty armed soldiers that I didn't recognize. They definitely weren't from Manticore, but I was stuck anyway. If I moved, they would shoot me.  
  
Suddenly it all fell into place. It hadn't been Corey before. It was just White using his powers on me. I shivered slightly, feeling uneasy. If this guy could mess with my head, who knew what else he could do!  
  
I didn't bother to reply. I was upset, and angry, but I didn't let it show. Finally, the Manticore mask had come in handy. I stared at him, my face lacking any emotion.  
  
"You'd think that after all your training; you'd be a little more careful, 205." White said with a hint of amusement in his voice.  
  
"That was really cruel." I growled, trying to keep my voice controlled. I was referring to his "little trick". He probably knew how much it would affect me. In fact, he seemed to know more about me and my family than I did. "What do you want with Jondy and Corey? If you hurt them, I'll -"  
  
White laughed, cutting me off. The only thing that was stopping me from reaching over and ripping his throat out was the fact that twenty soldiers were pointing twenty loaded guns at me. "Alright, alright. I'll bet you have lots of questions for me. I'm deciding to be nice enough to answer them for you, but I'd prefer it if you were behind some very thick iron bars. Save the threats and the bravado for later, alright?" he said, acting as if he were going through negotiations at a business meeting.  
  
White made a single gesture with his hands, and without hesitation a couple of the soldiers shot something at me. It looked like something attached to a cable. Before I had time to think, a strong electric current forced its way into me, making me jerk violently. It hurt. Badly.  
  
I fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
******************************************  
  
JONDY  
  
I truly had no idea how to go about looking for Zane out here, in the outskirts of Manticore. I mean, I couldn't just roam around screaming, "ZANE! WHERE ARE YOU!?" It was hard enough being so close to Manticore, where the first horrible nine years of my life had taken place. I was scared that maybe it was all a huge mistake, that maybe Manticore wasn't really gone and that any minute now a whole group of Lydecker's men would jump surround me and drag me back to that hell hole.  
  
Lydecker isn't bad anymore, remember? I reminded myself. It was kind of weird how he had suddenly changed after Tinga had died. I couldn't really believe it, but Syl and Krit assured me that it was true. Good or bad, I was still as scared as hell of him.  
  
It had taken me about two and a half days to get to friggin' Wyoming. Once I got in, I had to get to Gillette. Even with the motorcycle I borrowed from Syl, it had taken ages to get from state to state. There were people lining up for miles trying to get out, and then there was the problem with sector passes and the damn sector police. I hate those guys. They're so arrogant.  
  
What pissed me off even more was when this girl on a motorcycle who managed to skip the entire line just because she was a Jampony Messenger. What was the deal with that? And what the hell is Jampony? For crying out loud, all that time I spent standing in line I could've been looking for Zane. By now he could be half way to Mexico.  
  
As I roamed absently mindedly through the dense trees that surrounded Manticore, I thought about Corey, and how I had left him with Krit and Syl while I went to look for my husband.  
  
Flashback  
  
"That's it. I'm going to look for him." I declared.  
  
"WHAT!?" Syl and Krit cried in unison.  
  
Syl jumped up from her seating place. "Are you mad?"  
  
I sighed in frustration when Corey finally managed to squirm out of my grip. Giggling madly he ran off, dragging his towel with him. I let him go. I needed to talk to Syl and Krit. "Look, I HAVE to. This might be the only chance I will get to find Zane!"  
  
Krit was about to reply when Syl interrupted. "Uh, Jondy...there is something weird on Corey's back." She stated, staring at Corey as he disappeared into the kitchen.  
  
"I KNOW!" I groaned, throwing up my hands. So many things were happening at once - Zane disappearing, me finding out that I had slept with a man called Ames White who now might've been Corey's real father, freaky writing appearing on Corey's back, Manticore blowing up - I thought my head was going to explode any second now. "Weird writing! I don't know what it is, but I'll worry about that later! I gotta go find Zane! He's out there somewhere, I know it!"  
  
"You can't go out there by yourself!" Krit finally managed to get in. "It's dangerous, there could be...people out there, trying to round up the transgenics. Manticore isn't just gonna let them run free, Jon. They'll kill them, or take them to another location. They might get you as well."  
  
"I can take care of myself." I said forcefully. "Anyway, by the time I get there things would've settled down a little."  
  
"What if he's gone by the time you get there?" Syl said quietly.  
  
My heart sank. I didn't want to think about that. "I've got to try, Syl, I...never got to say goodbye to him. The last thing we ever did was fight. We had the stupid, pointless argument about...see, I don't even remember anymore!" I persisted when I saw a bit of understanding in their eyes. They never got to say goodbye to the rest of our siblings either. They just disappeared and were never seen again. "I need to tell him that I love him just one more time. And Corey needs him too."  
  
"If you're going to go, one of us will come with you." Krit said gently. But it sounded more like an order to me. Why did he have to sound so much like Zack?  
  
"No!" I snapped. "I'm not going to drag you into this! I'm going by myself."  
  
"What about Corey, then?" asked Syl, leaning with her back against the wall.  
  
"I'll take him with me, if you want." It would be harder, but I could manage. He was my son after all.  
  
"No, it's ok. We'll take care of him. It's safer that way." Syl said after a slight pause.  
  
I glanced over at Krit, who shrugged, and then back to Syl again. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I addressed both of them.  
  
"Yeah. It should be fine. He's a little angel." Syl smiled. "Besides, Zane's our brother. We want to see him safe as well."  
  
"She's right." Krit said slowly. "If you leave Corey here, you'll be able to move faster. That means you'll come back sooner. You'll have less to worry about. And Jondy, we ARE part of this, whether you like it or not. You're our baby sister. We need to look out for you."  
  
I nodded, knowing what he said was true. And I had to admit I was relieved that I would be able to leave Corey here. It wasn't about being tied down; it's just that....what if I needed to kill someone to get to Zane? I didn't want Corey to see his own Mom kill in cold blood.  
  
"Mommy?" Corey's small voice came from behind us. He was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, listening to every word. "Where are you going? I don't want you to go!" Oh man, what was I going to tell him?  
  
I cast a grateful glance in Syl and Krit's direction, as if to thank them for helping me. They just stood there silently. They were being way too good to me, I knew it.  
  
"Come on honey." I picked Corey up and carried him to the bedroom. Time for a deep and meaningful conversation.  
  
When I got inside I shut the door behind me. Corey looked worried; he seemed to know that something serious was going on. I wrapped the fluffy towel more securely around him so that he wouldn't get cold, and sat down in the middle of the bed cross-legged with him in my lap.  
  
"Mommy, please don't go. I promise I'll be good." Corey begged, on the verge of tears. He sniffed and wrapped his little arms around my neck. "If you go, I won't have a Daddy OR a Mommy."  
  
I hugged him tightly, feeling like I was about to cry myself. He won't have a Daddy or a Mommy. That statement was so simple and so innocent, but it was enough to make your heart break. "Sweetie, I have to go. I'm going to look for Daddy. And when we come back, you'll have both a Mommy and a Daddy." I whispered. I felt him run his fingers across the back of my neck. He was looking at my barcode. He had always been fascinated by the ugly mark that kept constantly reminding me that I was a killing machine. It was strange. Killing machines weren't supposed to have children.  
  
Corey loosened his grip around my neck and leant back to look at me in the eye. He was so close that our noses were touching. "You mean we can see Daddy again? He's going to come back? Did the bad people let him go?" Corey asked hopefully.  
  
"Hmm. The bad people didn't really let him go. He just managed to get away. You see, the building that the bad people kept Daddy in, it got burnt down so he was able to get out." Please let this be true, please let this be true, I said to myself. "But he doesn't know where we are, so I have to go look for him myself."  
  
"Do I have to stay here with Uncle Krit and Auntie Syl?"  
  
"Yes." I said, gently but firmly.  
  
"But...who's going to protect you from the MONSTERS!?" Corey said anxiously. "What if they eat you!?"  
  
I stifled a laugh. Of course he was worried; he had no idea that I could knock out six grown men while blindfolded, without breaking a sweat. But it was really sweet all the same.  
  
"Corey." I started, trying to keep a straight face. "If I see a monster, I'll go 'Hiiiyaaaa!' and punch 'em in the nose and then I'll say 'If you ever come near me again, Corey is gonna bonk your head in!' and then they'll run away!"  
  
"Or Daddy will protect you?" He grinned. "'Cause he told me that he'll always protect you and me. From monsters. And burglars. And the Boogey Man. And ET."  
  
"Yes, Daddy will protect me." I said a bit sadly. I really didn't want to leave Corey here. But if I didn't go look for Zane now, I would be kicking myself for not taking the chance for the rest of my life. And besides, Corey looked so happy that he was going to see him again. I felt a stab of uncertainty. What if I didn't find him? I could be searching forever. I couldn't bear to see Corey's face if I came back alone. Couldn't I give him some good news for once, with no strings attached?  
  
"Can Auntie Syl and Uncle Krit fight Boogey Men too, like Daddy?" Corey piped up suddenly.  
  
I let out a burst of laughter. He had no idea what they could do. "Yes, they can fight Boogey Men. But Auntie Syl is a LITTLE scared of ET, so you'll have to help Uncle Krit fight him, ok?" Suddenly I turned serious. I pulled my son closer to me and stroked his soft brown hair. "Baby I'm so proud of you." I murmured. "You've been such a good boy. I'm so sorry that Daddy got taken away. I know you were upset. But you've been so brave."  
  
"S'not your fault, Mommy. It's the bad people's fault." He said sleepily, snuggling against me. "When you and Daddy come back, it'll be all better again."  
  
I looked down at him fondly. His eyes were half closed, and he yawned. "I promise I'll bring him back," I said truthfully, kissing his forehead. "I'll miss you."  
  
"I love you Mommy."  
  
I smiled. This time I was on the verge of tears. "I love you too baby." I whispered.  
  
I didn't even know that that would be the last time I would see him for a very, very long time.  
  
End Flashback  
  
It was night time now, about 11o'clock. The air was cold, but it didn't really affect me. I had been walking around for ages, just....looking around. And finding nothing. No people, no animals. Even with my X5 hearing I couldn't hear anything. It was so quiet it was scary.  
  
A flicker of light above the treetops caught my eye. I looked up. Just a whole lot of stars. But there was one that stood out. It was moving, like a shooting star, and it was much bigger than the rest of them. When it flickered repeatedly, I realised that I recognized it. It was a signal from Manticore. We were trained to look for it just in case the facility was compromised.  
  
It said: Regroup...Echo Golf 427952...Saturday. That was tomorrow.  
  
I couldn't help thinking - would Zane go there? I rolled my eyes to myself as soon as the thought popped into my head. There was no way Zane would go there; not when they were mostly likely going to shoot all the soldiers that answered the signal, or ship them off to another facility. He was not stupid enough to do that. He would know better. But then again, what if they had reindoctrinated him? Then he would go there for sure. Like a good soldier.  
  
Another thought hit me. If I did manage to find him somewhere, what if he didn't WANT to come home with me? I quickly fought down the feeling of dread rising in my chest.  
  
Before we escaped in '09 I guess I could go far enough to say that we had it easy. We just got brainwashed with images and words that flashed before our eyes on a TV screen. Discipline. Duty. Mission. It was easy enough to pretend that you were paying attention, even if you weren't. The brainwashing never worked on me, Max, Zack, Krit, Syl, Zane, Ben, Tinga, Brin, Eva and Jack. We were able to keep our humanity. That's what made us try to escape in the first place.  
  
But reindoctrination. It was pretty much impossible to resist. It was meant to pound you into submission. After you were put through reindoctrination you only had one purpose in life. To kill and serve Manticore. And you didn't question it either. All the emotions you were capable of feeling and any personality you had was stripped away, and all that was left was a ruthless soldier. It was kind of like to brainwashing to say the least, but it was much harder to escape and even harder to get you back to the way you were before.  
  
I hoped to God that Zane hadn't been through that, but there was a lingering doubt. It was most likely that he HAD been through reindoctrination. Otherwise he would be of no use to Manticore. Even Brin got reindoctrinated. And that didn't turn out good. Would Zane even recognize who I am? Would he remember Corey?  
  
Of course he would, I told myself. He just wouldn't give a damn about you.  
  
I swallowed thickly. "No," I muttered to no-one in particular. "Zane loves you and Corey. It's X5 205 that doesn't give a damn."  
  
I stopped suddenly when I saw a medium sized hut in a clearing through the trees. Well, it wasn't really a hut. More like an abandoned barn or something. Made of wood. It kind of reminded me of the house in The Three Bears. Only not as cozy.  
  
I approached it carefully, avoiding all of the windows, just in case any one was inside. Actually, if Zane just happened to be inside there, hiding, it would've have been very good indeed. But I seriously doubted it. It would be way too easy.  
  
I circled the whole building until I found a door. I checked to see if it was locked, but it was open. Before I crept in, I listened carefully for any movement inside. Most of the people in there were sleeping soundly, but there was a bit of shuffling on the further end of the barn. Probably nothing that I couldn't handle.  
  
I slid inside silently, my eyes adjusting to the darkness almost immediately. I hid in the corner of the barn in the shadows, to survey my surroundings. There was a lot of hay and old machinery lying around, and wooden poles to support the roof. I felt a rush of relief when I saw some Manticore kids sprawled out on the floor, asleep. I wasn't sure what they were, but they were most likely X series. Definitely not X5s. But there were two girls and a boy that looked around 16 or 17, and a little boy, about 7. Maybe I could get some leads from them.  
  
I looked across to the other wall and was startled to see someone on sentry duty. Of course, they needed someone to look out for them. He was just a kid as well, about 12. He continued to stare out the window, as still as a statue. I wondered how many more X series were hiding out in here, in the other room.  
  
There was some movement just below the boy's knees. I strained my eyes. Popcorn? I moved a little closer, and realised that there was another X series, a man about my age who was sitting with his legs bent in front of him and throwing popcorn at the boy. The boy just ignored him.  
  
I smiled with amusement in the darkness. Chucking popcorn at people was probably one of Krit's favourite pastimes.  
  
Then I frowned suddenly, wondering how I was going to get the man's attention. He was the only one awake after all, and I needed to ask him what was going on. I couldn't just yell out, "OY! OVER HERE!". Knowing the X series, once I did that they'd all be awake in a second and pointing guns at my head.  
  
I slowly pulled out the gun in my jacket pocket, and moved quickly and quietly towards him. He didn't seem to notice. My arm shot out in a blur and grabbed a handful of his ash blond hair. He let out a yelp of surprise. I slammed him back onto the ground and straddled his stomach with my knees pinning his arms down. Finally, I drew out the gun again and pointed it at his head. Then I turned my head to look behind me, ready to attack the other boy that was standing next to the window, but he just stood there, unfazed. Ok then.  
  
I turned back to my victim. He just stared up at me with wide green eyes, as if seeing me for the first time. "Geez 211, I know you don't like me but to you really need to go to such extreme measures?" he snapped with distaste. "Put the past behind you girl. Stay away from me and I'll stay away from you."  
  
"What?!" I said, surprised. 211? "Who are you?"  
  
The man looked hurt. Or pretended to look hurt. "Honestly!" He drawled lazily. He shifted a little underneath me, not even looking like he was going to attempt to get me off him. "For a Manticore girl, your memory sure isn't very good. Would you mind letting go of my hair now? That kinda hurts. Thanks." he said, when I did as he asked. He didn't seem to be much of a threat.  
  
"Ok, firstly, my designation is NOT 211." I started off, annoyed. "And secondly my memory is perfectly fine. I have never seen you before in my life."  
  
"Oh really, huh? What would your designation be then?"  
  
"Tell me yours first, then I'll decide whether to give you my designation." I dug the barrel of the gun into his temple. For now, I wasn't a mom anymore, I was a soldier. "I've got the gun, remember?"  
  
The man sighed. "Fine. X5 494, MA'AM." He said sarcastically. "But my name's Alec now. Courtesy of my very stuck up breeding partner. Are you sure you're not 211? 'Cause you sure act like her."  
  
"No, my designation's 210." X5, I thought. Bingo! But before I got to ask him about Zane, he yelled out:  
  
"WHAT?!" He turned his head towards the back of the barn. "MAX! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE! IT'S ONE OF YOUR BUDDIES!"  
  
In an instant the other kids were up and alert, wondering what the commotion was.  
  
"Go back to sleep." I ordered them, not really sure if they were going to obey me or not. I hadn't been to Manticore since we escaped, but I was a higher rank than them. To my surprise, the four kids stared at me with pure terror or their faces.  
  
"Yes ma'am!" they shouted, each of them saluting and then lying back down again obediently. It would've been funny had I not been so confused.  
  
"MAX!" Alec bellowed again.  
  
Max? I thought. Who was this Max? I knew it wasn't my baby sister and best friend, Max. She was dead. It couldn't be her. Could it?  
  
A pretty, brown haired woman stalked out from the other room, looking very pissed off. I guessed that this was Max. Oh, fuck, that was the Jampony Messenger on the motorcycle! So THAT'S where she was going. I guess she had a pretty good excuse. "What is it, you moron?" she snapped. Then she noticed me still straddling him, and groaned. "We're out here for three days, and already you're fucking all the girls within a five mile radius!" she yelled. "And in front of all them, as well!" She motioned towards the other X series, who were lying down very stiffly. "Go get a room!"  
  
Max was about to walk off, when she realised that I was pointing a gun at him. "Oh! You're going to KILL him. My mistake. Go ahead." It almost sounded like an order. "I'll just watch." She stood there with her arms folded.  
  
I got off Alec slowly, not taking my eyes off her. She sure LOOKED like Max. Or at least I think she did. I hadn't seen Maxie for over ten years, but this one had the same eyes. The hair kind of threw me off though. It was really long, longer than mine. Maybe I was getting delusional. She couldn't be the same Max. Max was dead. Syl told me.  
  
Max raised her eyebrows at me, her arms folded. "Well, you gonna kill him or not?"  
  
I didn't answer. She seemed so emotionless.  
  
"Look." Max said. "If you aren't going to kill him, then I'm going to have to kill you. Unless you're one of us, that is."  
  
"DUH, of course she's one of us!" Alec interrupted. He was now up and brushing the bits of hay out of his hair. "She's one of those wackos that escaped with you in '09! I shoulda known!" And with that he disappeared, leaving me and Max together.  
  
It was really her! But how?  
  
We stood there silently. Max was scrutinizing me suspiciously, as if to figure out who I was.  
  
"Maxie?" I said uncertainly.  
  
Her eyes widened slightly. I knew that would get her attention. Her brothers and sisters were the only ones that called her Maxie. Me and Ben mostly. And since Ben was dead....  
  
"Jondy?!" she whispered, almost afraid to say my name. "Is it really you?"  
  
I nodded. I think I had the dopiest grin on my face, but I didn't care. I was so happy. I spent years trying to track her down, and now, when I wasn't even looking for her....there she was. It was funny, because ever since I had lost Zane, I had seen Syl, Krit and now Maxie. Was that the price I had to pay to see the rest of my brothers and sisters?  
  
We raced over to one another to give each other a hug.  
  
"Jondy, I can't believe it's really you!" Max said tearfully, her voice muffled against my shoulder.  
  
"Excuse me; I should be the one saying that." I said incredulously. "You're the one that's supposed to be dead!"  
  
Max held me at arms length by my shoulders. "Ok, was that broadcasted on the news or something? How did you know that?"  
  
"Syl and Krit told me. I've been living with them. Me and Corey. Corey's my son -"  
  
"Oh!" Max's eyes brightened a little. "Zane told me about him. OH!" Realization seemed to dawn upon her. "You're looking for Zane aren't you?" she said more softly.  
  
There was a loud, impatient sigh from the other room. "Will you two take your family-reunion-gossip-session-thingy upstairs or something?" Alec grumbled. "Some people don't have shark DNA."  
  
Max rolled her eyes, and pointed to a loft ten feet above us. There was a ladder that we could've used to climb up to it, but hey, we were X5s. We both ran and jumped easily onto it.  
  
"Me and Zane talked on the High Place a few months ago." Max said as we both settled down onto some hay.  
  
I sat up, feeling a glimmer of hope. But then again, it had been a few months ago. Anything could've happened to him between then and now. "You did? Was he ok?"  
  
Max nodded, moving around to get more comfortable. "He missed you. He was really worried about you and Corey. You know, he said it was his fault and that he put you both in danger and all -"  
  
I snorted. "Typical." Then I sighed, feeling a little lost.  
  
Max put her arm around me. "It's alright baby sister." She said softly. "I'm sure he got out fine. He's probably just hiding out somewhere."  
  
I nodded slowly. I wanted to believe that as well. "How did you guys find each other?" I couldn't see Zane in person, but at least I could talk about him.  
  
"He beat the living shit out of me!" Max suddenly exclaimed, making me leap back in fright.  
  
"What?" I said, confused.  
  
"We were in training. We were paired up together, can you believe that? And we didn't recognize each other until Renfro came over so we just fought our little hearts out. He was really nailing me for a while then - "  
  
I laughed. When we were little, NO ONE beat up Max during training. Except for Zack. But usually Max was the one that did the beating. She was one of the best. "Sucked in Maxie!"  
  
"Hey!" Max protested, pouting. "Excuse me, but I was the one that WON the fight in the end. And I forgot to rub it in his face too." She muttered grumpily.  
  
I grinned. It was nice to see Max's playful side. She was even smiling quite a lot. Back at Manticore I had probably only seen that smile once or twice in nine years, and that was when Ben made shadow puppets on the wall.  
  
"So, how are Krit and Syl?" Max continued. "I never really got to talk to them much when we took down the DNA lab. It was all work, work, work."  
  
"Oh, they're great. Wait till they hear that you're alive...hang on!" I cried. "What happened to you? Syl rang me up and she was crying and..she said you were dead."  
  
Max cast her eyes downward. "An X7 shot me in the heart and I needed a new one so...Zack gave me one." She said slowly.  
  
"Zack gave you one?" I caught to what she was saying pretty quickly. "Oh no, he's dead isn't he?" I slumped back onto the pile of hay behind me, shocked.  
  
Max was didn't answer. We were silent for a few moments, just lost in our own thoughts. It was strange, because we had so many years of talking to make up for. It was about time we had an X5 reunion, but most of us were either dead or missing and some of them weren't even one of us any more. Like Brin.  
  
I stole a quick glance in Max's direction. She was staring down at the other sleeping X's, a guilt ridden look on her face.  
  
"Max?" I said softly, wriggling closer to her.  
  
She turned to looked at me, but this time there was no emotion on her face. She was using that damn Manticore mask.  
  
"It's not your fault. I didn't mean to make it sound like it was your fault." I said gently. "And for crying out loud, you don't have to be all hard and tough in front of me ok? I'm your sister and I'm one of the few people who understand you. You don't have to hide everything from me, alright?"  
  
Max nodded and rested her head on my shoulder. She took a deep breath and then blew it out again. "I know. I'm sorry."  
  
"Are you alright?" I asked, even though I knew it was a rather pointless question. She'd probably been through so much crap that it would almost be impossible for her to be "alright". We were X5s. Wherever we went and whatever we did, something bad would happen. It was almost a guarantee. But then again, it made us stronger.  
  
"Renfro." Max muttered darkly.  
  
"Come again?" I didn't know what she was talking about.  
  
"Renfro, she's the new director of Manticore. I hate her so much!" she growled, her voice shaking slightly with anger. "It's like her only purpose it life is to make other people miserable. She's EVIL, Jondy!"  
  
"Why, what did she do?" Of course she's evil, I thought to myself. Only someone who was pure evil would want to make money out of Manticore. No normal, civilized person would be able watch the horrible things that they do to those kids in Manticore and then encourage it.  
  
"It's a long story. You see, this guy I know...he's Eyes Only." Max began.  
  
"You know who Eyes Only is?" I hissed. Wow. That was the guy that exposed Manticore.  
  
"Let me finish." Max snapped. I fell silent again. Then she told me everything. How she was in love with Eyes Only, whose name was actually Logan Cale. How Renfro wanted Max to show her where Logan lived, so that Manticore could kill him. How she escaped. How Manticore put some kind of virus inside of her that was targeted at Logan's DNA so that if they touched, he would die. How she exposed Manticore, and let all the transgenics out, even the nomalies. And how Manticore was now rounding up all the transgenics so they could kill them off.  
  
"Wow," was all I could say after I let all the information sink in.  
  
Max finally lifted her head off my shoulder and for the first time in my life I saw uncertainty in her eyes. The Max I had known had always been so confident, calm and in control that it was like this person in front of me wasn't even Max.  
  
"Do you think I did the right thing Jondy?" Max asked.  
  
"Yes." I said confidently. "You gave all the transgenics a chance to be free."  
  
"But some of them haven't even been to the outside world before. They'll be scared, and confused. Like the little X8 down there." Max motioned towards the sleeping X's below us. "He was so surprised when I told him that there was no mission and no training for him to do today."  
  
"Exactly my point." I interrupted. "Now that he's out, he can find out that there is more to life than obeying orders and going on missions for other people. He'll discover wondrous things such as pizza, and TV -"  
  
Max let out a small laugh, but then turned serious again. "Most of them are going to get killed anyway. What they did on the bridge was awful. They just SHOT them. Just like that."  
  
"Well they're going to have to take care of each other then, won't they?"  
  
"Yeah." Max agreed. "They can't make the same mistake we did. If they stick together, they can make things work out. They're family, after all."  
  
I hugged my knees to my chest and thought about Zane, and Corey who was with Krit and Syl. Max was right. Once we were all back together again, then maybe everything would be alright. All I had to do was find Zane. But for now, maybe there was something more important to be taken care of, like saving the lives of over a hundred transgenics. They were my family just as much as Zane was.  
  
Suddenly I found myself torn between Zane and a whole bunch of transgenics that I hadn't even spoken to before. What the hell was wrong with me? Zane was my whole life, the reason I got up every morning. I needed him, and so did my son. But talking to Max made me want to help the rest of my family, the ones that had absolutely no idea what was going on. Even the ones that looked like monsters, because we were the only ones who could help them. We were the only ones that understood why they were the way they were, because we were just like them. I knew that Zane at least knew his way around; he would survive on his own.  
  
"Don't worry Max. We'll find a way to get them out of this mess."  
  
******************************************************** 


	7. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

************** CHAPTER SEVEN **************  
  
ZANE  
  
I woke up with the weirdest feeling of déjà vu. I was locked up in a small, cramped room and my muscles were sore from getting fuckin' electrocuted. Sound familiar?  
  
I moved around a little, trying to get up, but instead I found that I was chained to one of those cold, metal examination tables. Like the ones the scientists used to experiment on us when we were kids. I felt a stab of panic and tried to get up again, but I was forced to stay down. The chains were wrapped around my hands, feet and my chest too, and they were solid iron. Whoever tied me up had deliberately made sure that it X5 proof first.  
  
Suddenly I remembered that it had been White that had brought me here. I wondered why he had bothered to chain me to a table, when he had all those super powers. Super powers. Huh. That was definitely something us Manticore kids had missed out on.  
  
At that moment the door behind me crashed open and White strode in.  
  
"If you think that I'm gonna tell you where Jondy and Corey are, then you're wrong," I snarled as soon as he turned to face me.  
  
White laughed quietly and sat beside me on the edge of the metal table. I wanted to kick him, but the chains stopped me. I didn't like the idea of being so close to him.  
  
"Too bad, because I know exactly where they are anyway. And by the way, I believe that you've got some photos of mine." White scratched his head, as if he were trying to remember something. "Hmm, who were those pictures of again? I can't seem to remember.."  
  
I felt all the blood drain from my face, but I tried to keep my cool. He wanted to make me angry, and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction. "Jondy and Corey...." I murmured.  
  
"Ah, yes." White said knowingly. "You've jogged my memory. You know, I should put you and that girl under arrest. You stole from me, AND you went through all my things."  
  
So that's where Tyra got the photos from, I thought. I hadn't really thought about it while I was looking at them. I was just glad to see that they were safe, with Syl and Krit.  
  
"You took photos of them." It was more a statement than a question. "Why?"  
  
"Let's just say that Corey is very important to me." White said slowly.  
  
I suppressed a shudder. This was definitely a weird obsession. I wondered why on earth White would want anything to do with my Corey. It didn't make sense. Selfish as it may have been, I kind of wished he had picked someone else to stalk instead. There were plenty of other people in this world? Why us? We already had enough problems as it was.  
  
Flashback  
  
"That...that affair you had with the boy's mother - how can you be sure the child is even yours? And if he is, then what are the odds of some love- child being the Chosen One?"  
  
End Flashback  
  
The thought forced its way into my head. Again. If what that man had said to White was true, then everything certainly did fall into place. But I didn't WANT it to fall into place. Not like this. Was all this the result of Jondy's affair with White? There had to be another reason for this mess. And I guess the only way to know for sure was to ask White. But I didn't, and avoided the subject.  
  
"How'd you find 'em?" I asked flatly.  
  
"I didn't. YOU did."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" I cried, lifting my head up.  
  
White adjusted himself so that he was leaning, rather than sitting, on the metal table. "When I realised that Ray, my son, wasn't the Chosen One, I kinda figured that it would be Corey. So I went looking for him, but I found you instead. I put a tracking device on you and you led me straight to what I was looking for." A self-satisfied smirk lingered on his face for a moment, but it disappeared quickly. "But then you found the tracking device and you all took off. We didn't expect that to happen. You guy had us fooled for a while. We never expected you to be transgenics. So it was lucky that you thought it was Manticore after you." Even when admitting he was wrong, White sounded like an egotistical pig.  
  
"Of course I bloody thought that Manticore was after me!" I snapped. I had already gone through a guilt trip for leading Manticore to Jondy and Corey. Or who I thought was Manticore anyway. "It's not like you gave me a warning before you started shooting at our asses." Our asses? I thought. Where did that come from? Oh right, Tyra was there. Speaking of Tyra...  
  
"What did you do with 211?" I asked out of curiosity, not because I cared or anything. "Or haven't you figured out that she's not my wife yet?"  
  
"Hey, I'm not stupid. It was pretty obvious when she didn't seem to recognize me at all, or recall the fact that we slept together a couple of years ago, even though I tortured her for three days straight. So I took a DNA sample, and found out that she was an X5. A clone of your wife." White said. "It changed my plan a little, but what can I say? I'm a man of compromise."  
  
I stared at the ceiling, not wanting to make eye contact with the evil bastard. I had listened up to the part where he said "Or recall the fact that we slept together a couple of years ago," but after that I had zoned out. So Jondy had really slept with him? I couldn't believe it. It wasn't a very Jondy-like thing to do. I had no reason to believe what White was saying - I knew Jondy better than anyone else did, even more than Max, and I knew that she would tell me if she did something like this.  
  
"What is your....plan, exactly?" I said slowly, dreading what I was going to hear next.  
  
"Right! Back to business." White practically jumped up, suddenly enthusiastic. He rubbed his hands together. As he spoke, he paced around the room, stopping every now and then to catch my reaction. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."  
  
I rolled my eyes. This was not a good time for humour. "Get on with it, will you?" I was becoming more and more impatient.  
  
"Yeah, yeah." White said lazily, disregarding what I had just said. It looked like he was going to do things his own way, and there was nothing I could do about it. I hated being so out of control. "This is what you're going to do to for me. You and 211 are going to turn up at that place your son is staying at. He's with two more of your X5 buddies, right? The blonde girl and that dark haired guy. Anyway, you going to pick him up, and give him to me. Understood?"  
  
I balled up my fists, fury and disgust churning inside me. So far I had been able to keep my anger under control, but this was just too much. What made him think that I was just going to hand Corey over to a complete stranger? "My ass I will!" I snorted. "First you expect me to believe that you and Jondy had a 'fling', and now you want me to hand my only son over to you?"  
  
"YOUR son?" White exclaimed with mock horror. "I think you mean MY son."  
  
"HE'S NOT YOUR SON!" I yelled, unable to control my anger. "AND YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR HIM!"  
  
"Don't be so naïve." White said fiercely, leaning over so he could look me straight in the eyes. "Ever wondered why his abilities weren't as sharp as they were supposed to be? Why he didn't develop as fast as an X5? He should be able to memorise 20 digit numbers, he should be able to read and understand eighth grade advanced math, but he can't! And do you know why? Because he doesn't have the DNA of two X5s! He's half X5, half Familiar, because me and your wife got it on in 2019!"  
  
"You lying bastard!" I hissed at him. White mentioned that he and Jondy had slept together a couple of times before, but I had let it slide, mostly because I didn't want to hear it. This was a lot harder to ignore.  
  
"How come he looks nothing like you, huh?" White continued with his in-your- face interrogation, ignoring what I had just said. "Why doesn't he have your eyes? Your nose? Your laugh? Because you're not his father! He's my son!"  
  
"You have no proof," I glared at him, trying to keep the pain out of my eyes. I couldn't deny how much his taunting words had hurt me. It was a strange feeling, being out of control like that, because X5s were trained to handle harsh interrogation. I remembered how Lydecker used to sit us in a chair, in small room. It was a one on one thing. Just me and him. We all used to dread it, because, well, we thought he was evil. He'd just stand there and yell and insult us until we couldn't take it anymore. Syl once came out crying because she was so terrified. But this was somewhat different, because White was talking about people that I loved. And from the way he was speaking about Jondy, a person who didn't know any better might think she was some kind of whore up for sale. She most certainly wasn't a whore.  
  
What hurt even more was the fact that what he was saying was true. Not about Jondy being a whore, the stuff about Corey. Why didn't he have my eyes? He certainly didn't have Jondy's eyes, they were blue. And he didn't have my eyes, because they were green. Corey had brown eyes....like White. And then there was the thing about Corey not having X5 abilities. It was true, he wasn't the Albert Einstein we expected him to be, but it hadn't really bothered us. He was normal, and he was healthy, and that was all that mattered. It had almost been blessing, because we wouldn't have had to hide him away from other kids his age. But I can't say that I had never wondered why we got so lucky....damn, it was so hard to think that the boy I had helped raise for three years wasn't even my son.  
  
"Yes well, I'm going to need proof then, right?" White backed off from me. "That's where you and X5-211 come in. I knew you transgenics had to be good for something."  
  
"Hell no!" I said, disgusted. This was one guy who didn't give up. "Your son or not, I'm not going to put Corey in danger."  
  
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, an overwhelming pain washed over me. It was like a switch had turned it on or something. My head felt like it was going to explode, I couldn't move, or speak, and I could hardly think. I was almost starting to miss the beatings I had gotten at Manticore.  
  
"Does that hurt? I bet it does." White said, as if talking to a little kid. "I'm cutting off the blood supply to your brain, just so you know."  
  
Great, I should've known that White would turn to torture as his last resort.  
  
"My powers come in handy when I need to torture someone. I don't even need any of that technical equipment. To bad I can't use them when I'm interrogating suspects. Can't let anyone know what I really am."  
  
I gritted my teeth. The pain was unbearable.  
  
"I'll propose a deal for you. If you and 211 go to your friend's house, take Corey in a normal, civilized manner, and bring him to me, I'll promise to give Corey back to you after I do a DNA test. Well that is, if I find out if he's your son, not mine. But if he is mine, I'll keep him. Alright? Think about it." After that, White released me and walked out quickly.  
  
I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling weak and tired. My skin was still stinging from...whatever that was. And my head was throbbing. I didn't think that I was capable of making a wise decision at that moment.  
  
A few minutes passed and I tried to regain my composure. Before I knew it, White came back in again, with an unconscious Tyra slung over his shoulder. I couldn't believe that he had kept her here for over four months.  
  
As he chained her up against the wall, he said to me, "Did you think about it?"  
  
"Didn't give me much time." I stated, a little shakily. "But your plan has a couple of flaws."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"I can't just turn up at their house with Ty...211. What's gonna happen if Jondy opens the door and sees me standing with her clone? That won't go down well."  
  
"Right. I forgot to tell you. Jondy won't be there. She's gone to look for you. At Manticore. Very sweet if you ask me."  
  
I raised my eyebrows, surprised. "You're kidding. How do you know this?"  
  
"I've got some Familiars keeping a close watch on them. To make sure they don't go anywhere. And that nothing happens to Corey."  
  
"Oh, how very considerate of you." I said sarcastically. Then I had a sudden realization. "You..." I hesitated. "You were the one that killed all the X6s, didn't you?"  
  
"Yes. Can't have people from Manticore messin' around in my business, now can we?" White said, "Anyway, as you know, this is extremely convenient. 211 will pose as Jondy, she can pretend that she's found you and you can go back for nice little family reunion. Then you get take Corey and give him to me. Simple."  
  
I found a few other variables in his plan, but I didn't say anything. Who knows, maybe things would work out for my benefit. So instead I said, "How are you going to make 211 do what you want? She's very stubborn."  
  
"That's been taken care of. I implanted a chip at the back of her neck, near the spinal cord. I press a button, and "boom!" she's dead!" White laughed. "She'll do whatever I tell her to. Small price to pay for her life."  
  
"How can I trust you to give Corey back, if he's not your son? People like you don't keep your word. You'll probably kill him or something. Believe me, I know. I've had years of this kind of crap with Manticore."  
  
White raised his hands up defensively. "Hey, fair enough. But I'll let you know, that I have a son of my own, and I love him dearly. I can imagine what it's like in your shoes. But if I find out that he's my son, I have every right to -"  
  
"So what if he's your son!" I interrupted him. "We brought him up! You can't take him away from us, he doesn't know you, and he won't want to go with you! We're the only parents he knows. And if you want to see him, then FINE! You can! Just don't take him away!"  
  
White looked stunned by my sudden outburst of emotion. I guess it was a strange sight, because X5s weren't meant to show, or feel emotions. Sorry, I wasn't as cold-blooded as Tyra was.  
  
"This goes a lot deeper than visitation rights, 205." White said darkly. "He is crucial in the survival of the Familiars. He'll help us achieve our purpose. And if you don't help us, I'll get some Familiars to get him instead. The reason why I want you to do it is because he will go with you willingly. Your friends won't ask any questions when you take him away. They trust you. If a bunch of people they don't know barge in and take him, it'll look like a kidnapping. Your friends will try to stop it. They don't stand a chance against the Familiars, transgenic or not. They'll get hurt, maybe even killed. Things will get messy. And I assure you, if you don't do what I say, you'll never see Corey again - even if I do find out that he is your son."  
  
I sighed and weighed the odds in my head. I didn't want Krit and Syl to get hurt - they weren't part of this, and they shouldn't have to pay the price for getting caught up in someone else's problems. And I definitely wanted to see Corey again. If I helped White, there was a chance of him keeping his end of the bargain. And maybe I could double cross him, and take Corey someplace where White couldn't find him.  
  
I better be doing the right thing, I thought. "Alright. I'll do it."  
  
************************************************  
  
I stood in front of Krit and Syl's door, inside a dingy old apartment block in Manhattan somewhere. Tyra stood next to me; wearing an outfit very similar to the one Jondy had worn when she left to look for me. According to White anyway. Her blond hair was flowing past her shoulders, with some of it tucked behind one ear.  
  
She looked so much like Jondy that I had to restrain myself from throwing my arms around her. The only thing that reminded me that she was Tyra, not Jondy, was the way she spoke to me. She was so mean, even meaner than she usually was ( whoever would've thought that that was actually possible? ), and she only spoke to insult me or boss me around. She was a nightmare!  
  
Although she hadn't said it to my face, I think she blamed me for getting her into this mess. Yes, that was understandable. If I were her, I would blame me too, but right now I didn't care about what she thought. I was about to see my son, who I hadn't seen for four months, and my brother and sister, who I hadn't seen for six years. And I was going to betray them all.  
  
There has to be a way out of this, I thought as I raised my hand to knock on the door. I paused and lowered my hand. Tyra raised one eyebrow, giving me a questioning look. I turned around and stared out of the window behind us.  
  
They were watching us. We didn't know where they were, but they were still watching us. White had told me not to double cross him, because there were Familiars surrounding the whole area. And they looked like your average, everyday person. There was probably no way out of this. I knew I shouldn't underestimate the Familiars, because, well, they had abilities that I didn't. The whole supernatural thing was way out of my league, I knew it, Tyra knew it and White knew it. I dunno, maybe the whole thing was just a setup, so that White could get us to do what he wanted. Maybe no one was watching us. I still felt nervous though.  
  
Suddenly there was a loud squawk, and a black crow appeared out of no where and landed on the window sill. I stared at it, stunned and paralyzed. This was not a very good sign. The last time I had seen this bird was at Manticore, when I was eight. I had tried to kill it, but instead of shooting the bird I had gotten my sister Ondine, and she died. Later on that night, Ben had told us that the crow was a sign from the Blue Lady, to warn us that something bad was going to happen.  
  
"Snap out of it 205. It's only a bird." Tyra scoffed.  
  
"How many fuckin' times do I have to tell you, my name's Zane. You better call me that from now on, or they'll get suspicious." I growled at her, trying to hide the fact that I was shaken up. "And remember, you're JONDY. The blonde girl is Syl; the dark haired guy is Krit - "  
  
"And the kid's called Corey. Yeah, yeah, I know." She snapped, irritated.  
  
I rolled my eyes and knocked on the door. Then I slung my arm around Tyra.  
  
Tyra looked up at me with disgust. "What are you doing? Get your hands off me!" She hissed.  
  
I grabbed her before she could wriggle away from me. "Look, I don't like it either, but we gotta make this look realistic. We're supposed to be married, and we haven't seen each other for ages. It wouldn't make sense if we stood three metres away from each other, acting like we've got a contagious disease."  
  
Tyra sighed in defeat, for once not coming up with a smart-alec comment. She leaned against me begrudgingly, while I wrapped my arm around her reluctantly.  
  
It was just the right timing, because the door opened and a man who looked like Krit stood there, looking surprised.  
  
"Jondy?"  
  
"Hey Krit," Tyra said casually, sounding so much like Jondy I was almost convinced that it was really her. "Look who I found wandering around in the outskirts of Manticore."  
  
Krit turned his gaze towards me. "Zane?"  
  
"No." I said sarcastically. "I'm Lydecker. Geez man, get it right!"  
  
"It IS you!" Krit laughed. "I could recognize that sarcasm any where!"  
  
I grinned as we gave each other a manly hug. "Good to see you man."  
  
"You too. You look different."  
  
"Oh ya think? It's only been six years!"  
  
"It's not my fault you've grown uglier since the last time I saw you."  
  
"Hey, I wasn't the one who got dumped head first in a stinkin' garbage can in Vegas."  
  
"Are you guys gonna insult each other all day or are you gonna let us in?" Tyra interrupted, annoyed.  
  
Krit and I stopped talking and looked at her. Well, Krit looked. I glared. You better not have blown our cover, I thought as I seethed in silence.  
  
But to my relief, Tyra batted her eyelashes and smiled innocently at Krit. I think I nearly fainted from shock. She didn't have a friendly bone in her body! Maybe I was wrong. Either that or she was a damn fine actress.  
  
"Yeah Jondy, I missed you too." Krit said warmly, giving her a bear hug.  
  
She received the hug a little awkwardly, but I don't think Krit noticed. She made a face at me over his shoulder, and I shrugged. She probably didn't get that kind of affection at Manticore.  
  
Krit pulled away from her, much to Tyra's relief. "How'd you do it Jondy? The odds were a million to one. I can't believe you actually found the big fat idiot!" Krit clapped me on the shoulder.  
  
"Hey!" I protested. "I'm not....fat." I knew he was joking though. Krit had been my best friend at Manticore. Syl as well. I had missed the friendly banter between the three of us.  
  
"Krit!" Tyra scolded lightly. "Leave my man alone. Now where's our little boy?"  
  
I tried not to cringe when she called me "her man". She's just playing the part, I told myself.  
  
"Thanks honey." I said to Tyra, kissing her lightly on the top of her head. I didn't wait to see her reaction. Instead I followed Krit, who was leading us inside.  
  
"Syl and Corey are in the living watching some movie called 'Lilo and Stitch'." Krit said, taking us through the kitchen.  
  
"What and stitch?" Tyra exclaimed from behind me. I turned around to see that she was trying to get familiar with the place. "You tryin' to teach my boy sewing?"  
  
Krit laughed. "Nah. It's a cartoon. 'Bout some blue alien. With four arms."  
  
"Oh. How attractive." Tyra responded.  
  
Hurry up! I thought to myself impatiently. I wanna see Corey! I could hardly contain myself.  
  
"Hey Syl! Look who the cat dragged in!" Krit called.  
  
I heard Syl let out a squeal. "Is it Lydecker? It better not be Lydecker! Krit, if you let that son of a....uh, female dog into our home I'm going to kill-" Suddenly her head emerged from behind the door and she saw me. "ZANE!" she shrieked delightedly.  
  
I laughed. She was such a goofball.  
  
Next thing I knew, she had flung her arms around my neck, practically squeezing me to death. I hugged her back, stumbling back from the impact.  
  
"Gee Syl, lose some weight!" I joked, my voice muffled because of her hair.  
  
Syl pulled back and glared at me. "If I wasn't so happy to see you alive, then I'd slap you."  
  
"Yes, I know." I replied with a sly grin on my face. "Why else would I have said it? I take every advantage that I get to insult you without getting myself crippled for the next three days."  
  
Syl shook her head. "You haven't changed one bit big brother."  
  
"Uncle Krit, your birdie's eating the sofa!" Corey suddenly yelped from the living room.  
  
My heart gave a leap of excitement. I hadn't heard his voice for four months, and there he was, in the next room. What the hell was I doing in here?  
  
"Come on." Tyra grabbed my wrist. "Let's go see Corey. He's really missed you."  
  
I walked in to the small living to find Krit practically attacking some kind of parrot-like creature, which had been eating the stuffing out of the sofa. Corey was sitting opposite him, giggling hysterically.  
  
"Corey, look who's here!" Syl exclaimed.  
  
Corey focused his attention on the other three people in the room - me, Tyra and Syl. His eyes lit up, looking exactly the way he did in the woods outside Manticore, only this time I knew it was real.  
  
"DADDY!" he yelled ecstatically, making a mad dash towards me.  
  
"Hi kiddo." I picked him up and hugged him tightly. Corey buried his face into my neck. "I missed you a lot."  
  
"I missed you too! And mommy missed you as well!" Corey mumbled into my neck.  
  
"Did you look after Mommy for me while I was gone?" I said quietly. Of course, he didn't know that the lady standing next to us wasn't really his mommy. But I meant his real mommy.  
  
Corey leaned back and nodded proudly. "Yup! I protected her from the monsters!"  
  
"And what about Krit and Syl?"  
  
"I made sure that they brushed their teeth before they went to bed. And that they ate all their vegetables." Corey said dutifully.  
  
Krit, who had somehow disposed of the parrot-thing, said, "Yeah, Corey's da man."  
  
"No cavities for us." Syl added.  
  
I grinned at Corey. "That's my boy." He had been through so much lately.  
  
"Now that you came back, I'll let you fight the monsters instead." Corey stated. "It makes me tired."  
  
"I need to go to the bathroom." Tyra interrupted before I could reply. She hadn't said anything during our father-son reunion. I suspected that she'd had enough of all this mush. And that she had no idea what to do when it came to being ( more like pretending ) to be a mom.  
  
She walked off, ruffling Corey's hair as she walked past.  
  
"Uh, Jondy?" Syl said.  
  
"Yeah?" Tyra replied.  
  
"Toilet's that way." Syl pointed in the opposite direction to where Tyra was going.  
  
"Right." She said a little sheepishly, turning the right way.  
  
As soon as she was out of earshot, Syl said, "Is she ok?"  
  
"Yeah, why?" I asked, my heart rate increasing. I seriously hoped that they didn't suspect anything.  
  
"She just seemed a little quiet. For Jondy, anyway."  
  
"She's worn out. She's been through a lot that's all." I lied, feeling like a cheating, two-faced bastard. Why was I doing this again?  
  
Syl nodded with a looked of understanding. "We're glad you guys are back together again." Krit said.  
  
"Thanks for taking such good care of them." I really meant it. Who knows what might've happened if Krit and Syl hadn't been there, what with Ames White watching their every move.  
  
"Daddy, I'll show you where we sleep!" Corey exclaimed, tugging at me. He squirmed out of my grip and onto the floor, grabbing my fingers. As I followed, I had to bend over because he was so little. I heard Krit sniggering at me.  
  
Corey led me to a small room with two beds and a cupboard. It was nothing too fancy, but it was clean. "Look!" he cried, running over to the bed on the right. "This is where I sleep." Then he pointed to the other bed. "And that's where mommy sleeps."  
  
"Nice." I commented, sitting on Jondy's bed.  
  
Corey was silent for a minute, and then he said worriedly, "Daddy, did the bad guys hurt you?"  
  
I considered whether or not I should tell him the truth or not. I didn't know what Jondy had told him about what happened to me. "What did mommy tell you about the 'bad guys'?"  
  
Corey shuffled over to sit on my lap. "She said that they wanted to take you away and make you do bad things. And that they shooted you. But she said you were tough and that you'd try to get out so we can live together again."  
  
"That's right." So she had told him the truth. Well, sort of anyway. As much as a three year old mind could handle. "They hurt me a little bit. But it's alright now. They're gone." Now we have a new enemy to run from, I thought to myself. It never ended.  
  
Corey stared up at me with wide eyes. "Why did they hurt you?"  
  
I shrugged. "I don't know." I said truthfully. "That's just the way they want to be. There are a lot of bad guys in the world kiddo, but we don't have to be like them. We don't have to hurt people."  
  
"S'not good to hurt people." Corey nodded knowingly. Then he cast his eyes downward. "Mommy said the bad guys were looking for us too. Did they want to hurt us as well?"  
  
I pulled him closer to me and hugged him, resting my chin on the top of his head. "I wouldn't let them hurt you, or Mommy." I whispered honestly.  
  
We sat there in silence for a moment. Then Corey jumped up suddenly. "I'll go find mommy!" He gave me a hug. "I'm glad you're ok. Now I can have a mommy AND a daddy!" He said before he scrambled out of the room to find Tyra.  
  
I sighed and lay back on Jondy's bed. It was strange to think that only a few days ago, she would have been lying down on this very spot. Turning my head, I buried my face in the pillow and breathed in her scent. It smelt just like strawberry shampoo.  
  
I missed her so much. Sure, Tyra looked like her, and she could act like her, but it wasn't the same. It was kind of ironic that Jondy was out there looking for me so that she could bring me home, when I already was at home. She was putting herself in danger for no reason at all, because she definitely wasn't going to find me out there. I couldn't help wondering whether or not I was going to see her again. I hoped that eventually she would give up looking for me, and come back here. But that could take ages - weeks, months. Jondy was very stubborn.  
  
I wished that I had some way of contacting her, so I could tell her that I was alright. Then she'd come back. I just wanted to know that she was safe, and there was no guarantee of that with her being so close to Manticore. What would she say if she knew about what I was going to do? She probably wouldn't think I that I was heartless enough to give up Corey. She wouldn't believe it.  
  
I couldn't believe it either. Corey was an amazing little kid. And he had been so worried about me. He looked up to me, trusted me, because I was his father. What kind of example was I setting?  
  
I didn't deserve to be his father. Fathers didn't put their children in danger like that. Good fathers didn't give their children away to some lunatic who would probably use them as a sacrifice for the almighty god of cactuses or something like that.  
  
Suddenly I jumped up off the bed and headed for the door. I couldn't do it. There was no way I was going to do this to Corey. Or Jondy. I didn't care what White was going to do to me. I couldn't believe that I agreed to it in the first place. Fuck, what was I THINKING?  
  
I jerked the door open and, not looking where I was going, slammed into Tyra.  
  
"OW!" she cried. I saw that she was giving Corey a piggy back.  
  
"Choo choo train!" Corey called out. "Honk, honk! Careful Daddy or you'll get run over!"  
  
I pushed them both out of my way. "Syl! Krit!" I was going to tell them everything, and then I was going to take Corey and get as far away from here as I could.  
  
"Zane?" Tyra followed me with Corey still on her back.  
  
I whirled around and stared intently into her eyes. "I can't do this." I said fiercely in a don't-you-dare-question-what-I'm-doing kind of way. "I hope you understand." What? What was I saying? Of course she didn't understand.  
  
"WHAT!" Tyra yelled. Obviously she didn't get the hint. "Are you insane? You are NOT bailing out on this one. What are you going to go?"  
  
"I'll take Corey and run!"  
  
"Oh!" she sneered. "Of course, run away and White will disappear in a puff of purple smoke! That's what I hate about you '09 escapees, you think that running away will solve all your problems, 'cause you're too chicken to face them like a real soldier! Especially that little slut of a wife you have -"  
  
She was cut off in mid-sentence. Mostly because I drew back my fist and punched her with all my X5 strength. I couldn't take it anymore. She could say whatever she wanted about me. But there was no way she could insult my brothers and sisters and the woman I love and get away with it.  
  
"You have no idea how much I hate you!" I snarled angrily as she was thrown backward from the impact. "I hope White blows you up!"  
  
"Daddy, stop it!" Corey whimpered. "Don't hurt Mommy! S'not good to hurt people!"  
  
He was right, I thought. I shouldn't have done that in front of Corey, not matter how angry and upset I was. Even my three year old son knew the difference between right and wrong, so why didn't I? "I'm so sorry kiddo. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not one of the bad guys, I promise." I wanted to fix this. I didn't want him to be scared of me.  
  
"What the hell's going on?" Krit cried suddenly, staring at the scene before him. I hadn't realised that he had come in.  
  
"Krit, he's been reindoctrinated!" Syl came and stood next to him, casting me a wary glance. "He's one of them. I knew this was too good to be true."  
  
"What?" I said in disbelief. "I haven't turned, I swear!" Then I said, "Corey, come here. Get away from her." I didn't want Tyra touching my son.  
  
Corey wriggled away from Tyra and ran sobbing to Syl. Syl picked him up and comforted him. He was terrified. Of me. I felt my heart tear in two. But I guess I kind of deserved it. Just a few minutes ago I was going to hand Corey over to White.  
  
"Get away from him too, Jondy." Krit warned, glaring at me. He was one of my best friends. I couldn't believe that he was looking at me like that.  
  
Before I could tell everyone the truth, Corey piped up, "That's not Mommy."  
  
We all looked at him. Go on, I said silently.  
  
Corey rubbed the tears out of his eyes. "Mommy's number is 339367281210." Then he pointed at Tyra. "Her number is 339367281211. I saw it."  
  
"Where did you see it?" Krit asked him gently.  
  
"On her neck when she was giving me a piggyback."  
  
"She's Jondy's clone." I confirmed.  
  
Tyra snorted. "Our cover was blown by a three year old kid." She shook her head in disbelief.  
  
"Shut up." I snapped at her.  
  
"You're not Jondy?" Syl whispered, looking at Tyra.  
  
"I wouldn't ever hurt Jondy." I said, pretty much answering the question for her. "And I'm not one of them."  
  
"Then why'd you lie to our faces?" Krit demanded. I'd never seen him this pissed at me before. "Why'd you lie to Corey's face?"  
  
"It's complicated, alright? I didn't want to do it!"  
  
"Do WHAT?!" Syl cried, hurt. "Who are you working for, Manticore? What did they want you to do?"  
  
"It wasn't Manticore! It -"  
  
"KRIT!" Syl yelled suddenly. To my surprise, Krit was passed out on the floor next to Syl.  
  
"What happened?" I asked, my eyes wide.  
  
"I-" Her eyes rolled towards the back of her head and she flopped onto the ground, motionless.  
  
"SYL!" I cried, running over to her. I kneeled over her and shook her shoulders. "Syl?" I looked back at Tyra.  
  
"White." She said simply.  
  
"Oh crap." I muttered.  
  
"Daddy? What's happening?" Corey said in a small voice, detaching himself from Syl.  
  
"It's the bad guys." I told him truthfully, picking him up. "We got to go before they get us."  
  
Corey didn't say anything.  
  
There was a loud thump behind us. Tyra had gone down too.  
  
I'm next, I thought fearfully.  
  
When my legs gave way and everything turned black I kinda figured that I was right. And the last thing I heard was Corey screaming, "DADDDYYYY!"  
  
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A/N: HELLLOOO! Sorry I took so long to update, had so much work to do! Anyway I hoped you liked this one, don't forget to review! 


	8. The Truth Hurts

**************  
CHAPTER EIGHT  
**************  
  
JONDY "ID's and passports to get you across the border to Canada." Max said as she handed some papers to the kids. "Are we ever gonna see you again?" An X6, now known as Zero, said to Max.  
  
A whole group of us were standing along a road leading through the woods. Zero, Bullet, Fixit, Bugler and Ralph were standing a few metres away with Max, while me and Alec were leaning on his convertible, watching them as they said their goodbyes. Some guy ( Logan, I think - he was the one who got the passports and IDs ) was standing with his car and Max's Ninja.  
  
"Promise." Max replied. She had grown fond of those Manticore kids, and had made it her responsibility to help them out. Especially since they saved her ass from some transgenic hunter.  
  
Only yesterday, Max had been captured and locked up in a cage by some guys from Manticore. Well, at least we thought they were from Manticore anyway. But the X's, Alec and me went to get her out of there, and Max managed to get Alec to reprogram the computer running the laser - so instead of sending out a signal for the transgenics to regroup, it send out a signal telling them to scatter and go to ground. Now the transgenics weren't at risk of being rounded up and killed by the hundreds. Max would be able to sleep better now that she knew they'd be alright - for now anyway. "Now I'm going to drop a little wisdom on you grunts, so pay attention. First time I got out in the world, I lost track of all the kids I escaped with. Spent the next ten years trying to find them. Don't let that happen to you. Stay together. You're family." Max glanced up at me, and I gave her a reassuring smile. I was so proud of my baby sister. She'd done a really good thing by giving those kids a future. Suddenly my cell phone rang in my pocket, the shrill sound cutting through the silence of the woods. As I went to answer it, Alec shook his head and wagged his finger at me accusingly, making a 'tsk tsk' noise. "Naughty, naughty girl, Jondy." I glared at him. "It's not like we're in church or anything." Alec shrugged. "They don't have church at Manticore." I smiled sympathetically at him. I'd grown quite fond of Alec, actually. He drove Max absolutely crazy and she hated his guts, but for some reason he reminded me of somebody. I felt safe around him. Only God knows why - I mean, I hardly knew the guy and he was pretty much a self-centred play boy. He definitely wasn't someone you'd run to when you were scared or needed support. But I saw some good in him, despite what Max thought. "Hello?" I said into the phone. "Hey sis." It was Krit. Probably checking up on me. This was pretty convenient because I was planning on calling later to see how Corey was going. "Hi Krit." "Krit?" Alec echoed, making a face. "What an unfortunate name." I elbowed him in the stomach and motioned for him to shut up. "Whose that?" Krit asked. "Uh-" I began to reply. "Defending your lover boy, are ya?" Alec teased. "Oh, grow up." I snapped, letting out an exasperated sigh. Maybe I should've taken back what I had said about seeing some good in him. "He's my brother." "That explains it." Alec nodded knowingly. "Jondy's a weird name too. Must run in the family." I smacked his head before he could get away. "Stop it, go away!" I hissed at him, annoyed.  
  
He held his hand up to his head, a wounded look in his eyes. "Yeah, well, I gotta go before the waterworks start anyway." He nodded towards Max and the kids, who were saying their goodbyes.  
  
I quickly dismissed him with my hand and walked away from the group so I could talk with Krit.  
  
"Jondy?" Krit said hesitantly.  
  
"Yes, yes, I'm here. Sorry." I apologized. "What's the matter?"  
  
"I, uh....I have some good news and some bad news." Krit replied slowly.  
  
I stopped dead in my tracks. "What do you mean, bad news?"  
  
He sighed and there was a pause. I bit my lip. This didn't sound good. My brother was usually happy and hyperactive. Something must have really gone wrong for him to sound this anxious. "There's good news too," he added, trying his hardest to sound positive, but failing miserably.  
  
"Alright, give me the bad news." I took a deep breath and braced myself for the worst. I remember Lydecker telling us once that a soldier should always assume the worst. And that it was our mission to manipulate the situation so that things would turn out our way.  
  
"Shit Jondy, I don't know how to say this," he said softly and regretfully. The last time Krit was like this was when he had told me that Max was dead and that Zack was missing. It had to be that bad - or worse. "Someone's taken Corey."  
  
I gulped, fighting the panic rising in my chest. "I don't think I heard you right. I thought you just said someone's taken Corey."  
  
"You heard me perfectly, Jondy."  
  
I clamped my hand over my mouth silently, letting this sink in. Someone's taken Corey. Probably Manticore. Manticore took my baby!  
  
When I didn't say anything Krit blurted, "Jondy, I'm sorry. It happened so fast and we didn't know what was going on-"  
  
"Stop, Krit, ok? Just stop." I choked back a sob. Tears stung my eyes. I shouldn't have left him, I thought. I should've known something like this would happen. "Who took him? Who?! I'm gonna kill 'em-"  
  
"I...we don't know. I don't know what the hell's going on. But I think Zane does."  
  
I nearly dropped the phone in shock. What was he on about? I hadn't even found Zane yet, and as the seconds ticked by I began to doubt more and more that I'd ever see him again. "What does this have to do with Zane?" I asked weakly. Then I had a sudden realization. Maybe it WAS Zane! Maybe Manticore had reindoctrinated him and he was doing their dirty work. I would die if that were true.  
  
"It has everything to do with Zane." Krit informed me. "He was the one who was supposed to take Corey in the first place. But he couldn't bring himself to do it."  
  
My heart sank. So it was true. But Krit had said that he couldn't bring himself to do it. That had to be a good sign. "But...then how'd Corey get taken?"  
  
"That's the weird part. We all just...passed out. And when we woke up Corey was gone." Then he proceeded to tell me exactly what happened. He said that Zane had come over with a girl, who apparently looked exactly like me ( my clone from Manticore or something ). She posed as me, pretending that she had found Zane wandering around the outskirts of Manticore, and Krit and Syl had been completely fooled. "And their cover kinda got blown. I walked in just as Zane was beating the crap outta that..." He paused, not really knowing what to call her. "Your clone. And that's when we figured out something weird was going on." Krit was obviously distressed. He was probably blaming himself for all this. "He was gonna kidnap Corey."  
  
"It wasn't your fault Krit." I whispered. "How were you supposed to know?"  
  
"I should've been able to tell the difference between you and her. You're my sister, and she's a complete stranger!" Krit muttered angrily. Then, completely changing the subject, he said dejectedly, "He lied to our faces."  
  
"Do you think he's been reindoctrinated?" I asked, dreading the answer.  
  
"Surprisingly, I don't think he has. But it still doesn't make sense. If he's not working for Manticore, then who's he working for? Syl's interrogating him over there."  
  
"Y-you mean, he's there, at your house?"  
  
"Yeeeaaahh." He deadpanned, as if it were the most stupid question he had ever heard.  
  
"Well what am I waiting for; I'm getting over there right now!" I yelled, leaping up. Me and Zane needed to have a serious talk. Sure, he had attempted to kidnap our son - for whatever reason that was - and he could've been reindoctrinated, but I still wanted to see him. He was my husband, after all, and I loved him.  
  
"No!" Krit exclaimed urgently.  
  
"Why not?" I snapped.  
  
"I know this is a long shot, but according to Zane it's too dangerous for you."  
  
"For me?" I frowned. What did this have to do with me?  
  
"Yeah. He says that the people who are looking for Corey want to kill you as well. I don't know whether we can still trust him, but we better not take chances, alright? From the way Zane described 'em, these guys must be pretty good."  
  
I was thoroughly confused, but I knew better than to question my brother at a time like this. So I agreed and told him to meet me at Maxie's apartment in Seattle. He got mad at me when I mentioned Maxie - I had forgotten that he thought she was dead and hastily explained everything to him.  
  
When I hung up, I leant back against a tree with a worried sigh. I couldn't comprehend why Zane would do something like this. Corey was his SON. The Zane I knew would have done anything to protect him. This wasn't like him at all. And yet Krit believed that he hadn't been reindoctrinated. I didn't know whether to be furious at him or feel sorry for him. I hadn't heard his side of the story, after all. I didn't know what was going to happen when I met up with him in Seattle. Would he lie to me the way he lied to Krit and Syl?  
  
************************************************  
  
Max's apartment was dead silent as I sat leaning against the wall, staring out the window. Max had let me stay at her apartment last night, and being the good sister that she is, said that I could stay as long as I wanted as long as I didn't hang my lingerie on her motorcycle. Apparently her old room mate used to do that all the time. I told her that I didn't have any lingerie to hang on her motorcycle, but if I did, I would hang it there anyway just to piss her off.  
  
"Every day I'd come home and there'd be lacy underwear and bras hanging from my baby," Max recalled as she showed me around her apartment. "And I'd tell Kendra, 'The purpose of the motorcycle is to go fast, real fast, not to hang lingerie all over the damn thing,' but she'd never listen to me."  
  
She'd introduced me to her current room mate, Original Cindy, as well. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't help noticing how OC kept looking at my ass when I first met her. I didn't want to go up and ask her straight out whether or not she was a lesbian. I didn't want to insult her; after all, she was letting me stay in her apartment.  
  
"A sista of Max's is a sista of mine." OC said cheerfully.  
  
They were both at work now, and I was here by myself. I didn't feel like moving. I was too worried about Corey to sleep. I hated myself for not knowing where he was. I hated myself for just leaving him while I went to look for Zane, who apparently seemed to have found his own way to safety. Now Corey was out there in a world that was full of corrupt police, drug lords and just plain old crazy homicidal murderers - and that was a very dangerous place to be for a defenseless three year old boy. For all I knew, he could've been dead by now.  
  
I sniffed a little and squeezed my eyes shut tightly, to stop the tears from coming. My poor little baby boy. All the shit he had to put up with because of what me and Zane were. Ok, so it wasn't Manticore that had kidnapped Corey. But of course someone else had to come along to bite us in the ass! You know, last night, for the first time since I had Corey, I had regretted having kids. And now I wondered whether or not I was a bad mom for saying that. I mean, I didn't say it because Corey was a spoilt little brat who threw temper tantrums in the middle of the street every two seconds. And if he WAS then I guess I would regret having children from time to time. But Corey was nothing like that. He was a little angel, stubborn sometimes, like me, and very cheeky, like Zane, but I loved him all the same. He was so sweet, and he cared about me and Zane a lot. I didn't want him to have a messed up child-hood, like the one that me and my siblings had. I didn't want him to be haunted with nightmares for the rest of his life. I didn't want him to grow up and think that life wasn't worth living anymore.  
  
Last year everything had been perfect. No Lydecker. No running. We were off Manticore's radar, and we'd lived in the same place for over three years. It was almost like your average, everyday family - just me, Zane and Corey. Me and Zane had normal jobs. We took turns looking after Corey, who would sit there and play with his little trucks and building blocks, like a normal boy. He wasn't born with a barcode, and he didn't have any abnormalities, not to mention he didn't show any signs of having X5 traits. If we had lived in a cottage with a veggie patch and a rose garden, it would almost have been like a fairytale. But I wouldn't have been able to take care of a veggie patch or a rose garden to save my life, ( I was more of a car thief sorta girl ) so of course, we didn't have a veggie patch.  
  
But my worst crime was thinking that everything would be alright. 'Coz look what happened next. There's no such thing as happily ever after if you're from Manticore. Having Corey was one of the best things that had ever happened to me, but was it really all worth it? All I was ever going to do was hurt Corey. It would have been kinder for me and Zane not to bring him into the world, so we'd save him from all the pain he'd feel from now on and for the rest of his life.  
  
I shook my head in disbelief. I hadn't been this depressed in a while. Not since I was a teenager. Max had tried to get me to talk last night, but I didn't want to. I wanted Zane. I missed the feeling of having his arms around me. He always had a way of making me feel better. Yes, he was the one who had gotten Corey kidnapped in the first place, but I still wanted him here. I didn't even know where he was anymore, or even WHO he was.  
  
A sound at the door made me sit up. Someone was trying to pick the lock. At first I thought that maybe Max had forgotten the keys and was just trying to get in, but then again if she had done that she'd probably just call my name. I couldn't be too careful.  
  
I prowled over towards the side of the door like a cat, and flattened myself against the wall, ready the attack the intruder....  
  
The door clicked open and Zane walked in. I don't know why, but as soon as I saw him, I saw red. I wanted to kill him. The reasonable part of me that told me listen to his side of the story had disappeared, and all that was left was a very angry, upset mother. Unable to control myself, I flew at him punching and kicking at him with all my might.  
  
"I HATE YOU!" I yelled furiously, slapping his face. "I hate you so much! Why'd you let them take him? For fuck's sake, HE'S YOUR SON! You're supposed to keep him safe and now he could be dead and it's all your fault!"  
  
Zane just stood there. He said nothing and did nothing. He didn't even try to defend himself - he just let me abuse him. That just made me even madder. It was like he thought he deserved this.  
  
Eventually Zane tried to restrain me, despite my protests. He grabbed both my wrists and held them behind me, so that my body pushed against his. Our faces were about an inch apart, but I turned my head away so that I didn't have to look at him. I hadn't been this close to him in four months. A familiar feeling of warm and security washed over me, and for a moment I just felt like curling up against him and going to sleep. But I shook the feeling away hastily, remembering that I was mad at him. There was no way he was getting away with this unscathed. No. Just because he had these amazingly beautiful green eyes that made me turn to mush inside didn't mean he could get away with everything.  
  
I struggled against his grip half-heartedly, not really wanting to be apart from him. "Let me go!" I growled fiercely. I knew that I could've easily kneed him easily in the gut to make a quick escape, but for some reason I didn't. "Bastard. Get your hands off me."  
  
"No." Zane said simply, speaking for the first time.  
  
"You're one of them now," I said angrily, ignoring him, "How could you do something like this? What did they do to you?"  
  
"I'm not one of them." Zane insisted. His voice was calm and soothing, as if to make me settle down a little. How could he be calm at a time like this?  
  
"LIAR!" I cried passionately. I felt like I was dying inside. Zane was gone, how was I going to get him back? And there in front of me stood a man that looked exactly like him, claiming to be him. It was almost cruel and mocking. "Zane wouldn't do something like that! Zane's good, he's loves Corey. You don't, you're not Zane!"  
  
Suddenly I lashed out and kicked him hard in the shin. I backed away as fast as I could, but I didn't miss the hurt look that crossed over his face. And I knew that it wasn't because I had kicked him.  
  
Zane shoved his hands in his pockets, his expression now unreadable. It wasn't the steely, unemotional look of a soldier, it was almost...sad. I stared at him warily, wondering whether this guy who stood in front of me was Zane or 205?  
  
"It's me, Zane." He said quietly, as if he had heard my thoughts. "And I DO love Corey, I-"  
  
"You sure have a strange way of showing it." I replied darkly.  
  
"You don't believe me, do you?" He sighed, scratching his head, unsure of what to do next.  
  
"Why should I?" I demanded harshly. "You lied to Krit and Syl. They're your best friends. And you lead Corey to believe that that girl was me. Why should you treat me any different?"  
  
Zane started walking slowly towards me. I didn't know what he was going to do, but I stood my ground stubbornly. He stopped within arms-length of me and reached out tentatively to touch my face. I jerked back violently. Only Zane was allowed to touch me. I didn't know who this man was - so therefore, he wasn't allowed to touch me. With a tormented look on his face, he drew his hand back and began talking again.  
  
"It was a completely different circumstance, alright?" he said, desperately trying to explain. "I made a deal with him. I had to do it. But I was Zane then, and I'm Zane now." He sounded so sure of this that I almost believed him. All my senses were screaming at me, telling me to give in. Telling me to throw myself into his arms and cry away all the tears that had been threatening to fall for the past four months. But I still had a lingering doubt.  
  
"You made a DEAL with him?" I shot back disgustedly, even though I wasn't exactly sure who "him" was. "Is that all Corey is to you? A DEAL? Well that just figures doesn't it? Corey was more than just a 'deal' to Zane, ok? So- "  
  
I didn't get to finish my sentence. Before I knew what was happening, Zane grabbed my shoulders and kissed me. The kiss was warm, soft, sweet. I surprised myself by kissing him back passionately. This has to be Zane, I thought as he wrapped his arms around me. No one else kissed me like this.  
  
I pulled back and rested my forehead against his. "Zane?" I whispered uncertainly, almost afraid to say his name.  
  
"I'm here baby." He said gently. That was all the reassurance I needed. I didn't know why it had taken me so long to see that this was Zane, the man I was in love with, not just another heartless soldier.  
  
I gave him another heated kiss and then hugged him fiercely, burying my face into his chest and sliding my hands under his jacket. Zane seemed a little surprised - considering how angry I had been with him just a few seconds ago- but he wrapped his arms around me anyway, pulling me as close to him as he could. I inhaled deeply, breathing in his familiar smell, and only just realising how much I missed him.  
  
"We have to find Corey." I said, stating the obvious. We were having a nice little reunion, but it meant nothing without Corey. And the longer we waited to look for him, the less likely it was that we'd see him again. We had to leave husband-wife bonding for later and get down to business. We had to let the soldiers take over.  
  
"I know," he murmured into my hair. "But how?"  
  
"For starters," I began, feeling anger bubbling up inside me. "You can tell me exactly who it was who kidnapped our son. I swear, when I get my hands on him I'll rip his throat out. And if he's done anything to hurt Corey I'm gonna-"  
  
Zane, who was always the rational one out of the two of us, said, "It's not gonna be that easy, Jondy."  
  
"Then maybe you should tell me who we're dealing with." He had been gone for four months. Lots of stuff must have happened in that time.  
  
Zane took a deep breath and told me everything. It took him quite a while to get all of this out. It was a lot to tell, and he really wasn't enjoying it. I didn't blame him. He'd probably much rather forget some of these events.  
  
Wordlessly, I stared at him in awe. For the first time since he arrived I took a good look at him. He looked worn out. His face was etched with sadness and guilt and all I wanted to do was hold him and kiss it better and make all the hurt go away. He had been through so much. I couldn't imagine what it would be like, having to make a decision like that. At first I had hated him for putting Corey in danger but now I knew that he really hadn't had a choice.  
  
"Well, SAY something." Zane pleaded softly. He could hardly look me in the eye. Maybe he had mistaken my silence for something else.  
  
I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a warm hug. "You poor thing..." I whispered.  
  
Zane pulled back and stared at me, surprised. "Did I just hear you right?"  
  
I gave him a coy smile. "Well, considering that you have enhanced hearing I'd be extremely worried if you didn't."  
  
"I thought you'd get mad at me again, 'cause I let Corey get taken." He looked down at the floor.  
  
"Aw, honey," I ran one hand through his hair and then let it rest on his cheek. "You tried your best. There was nothing that you could've done. Sometimes...shit happens." I kissed his mouth lightly. It was my way of telling him that no matter how long he spent regretting what he had done, it wouldn't bring Corey back.  
  
"I'm sorry." Zane said quietly. "I really am."  
  
I gazed into his eyes and something tugged at my heart when I saw how worried and upset he was. All I could do was wrap him up in my arms and hope that it would make him feel a little better - even though I already knew that he would only feel better when Corey was with us, where he belonged. Zane buried his face into my neck. He was so warm. I didn't feel like moving.  
  
After a few minutes of silence, I finally said, "Why did they take him?" The question had been on the tip of my tongue for a while now, but I hadn't been able to say it.  
  
"What?" Zane looked startled.  
  
"Why'd they take him?" My eyes started to mist up. "It's not fair! He's never done anything wrong. He's just a baby. He still sucks his thumb sometimes!" I cried passionately.  
  
Zane didn't answer me.  
  
Something was really bothering him. I could tell. At first I thought that it was the fact that Corey had been kidnapped. But he was taking an awfully long time to answer. If he didn't know why they had taken Corey, then why didn't he just say so?  
  
"Zane?" I wasn't even sure if he was still on the same planet as me.  
  
Zane fidgeted a bit and then turned to face me. He seemed to be thinking very hard about what he was about to say. What could possibly be so horrible about what he was going to tell me? He looked positively miserable. I waited expectantly as he started to say something, but lost his nerve.  
  
"Does the name Ames White mean anything to you?" he blurted out finally.  
  
All the colour drained from my face when I heard that name. Did he know what had happened? I hadn't told anyone - not even Max or Syl. How did he know? I forced myself to calm down. It had to be a coincidence. Maybe it was someone else with the same name. But then again, who in their right mind would call their son Ames White?  
  
"Why?" I asked, carefully keeping my voice devoid of any emotion or recognition. Not that I thought Zane was stupid or anything, but I hoped that he hadn't noticed that I didn't really answer the question.  
  
"'Cause HE'S the one that took Corey!" Zane practically yelled, sounding half angry, half agonized. "And do you know WHY he took Corey? Because for some strange reason he thinks that Corey's his son!"  
  
I stared at him, not knowing what to say. It was like Zane had hit me really hard over the head with a baseball bat. I had never once contemplated that Ames White would come looking for Corey. I didn't even know that he knew Corey existed, so how in the world did he manage to come to the conclusion that Corey was his son? That bastard had some nerve to just take Corey away without any evidence! Ok, maybe there was that little incident in 2019 when I was in heat, but still....I thought that after that day, I would never see or hear from him again. It was a mistake. I never thought it would come to this. And what was I going to say to Zane? I couldn't just deny it. Ames White probably would've told him what happened.  
  
Corey was in danger. Because of me. It was my fault. Not Zane's, not Manticore's. Mine.  
  
"Why does he think that Corey's his son, Jondy?" Zane voice had softened a bit, but he still sounded distressed.  
  
I didn't answer. I didn't WANT to answer. I didn't want to see the look on his face when I told him that I'd cheated on him. But I couldn't lie either. He deserved the truth.  
  
"Because...we...." I stopped and looked up at him. His eyes were pleading with me, begging me to tell him that I had nothing to do with Ames White and that it was all a mistake. "We kinda..." I struggled on.  
  
"You kinda what?"  
  
"We had sex ok?" I blurted out finally. "But I was in heat and you had gone with Zack somewhere and I just couldn't control myself. It didn't mean anything; it was just a one time thing I swear!"  
  
I'd never forget the hurt look in his eyes at that moment. I might as well have ripped out his heart and stomped on it. I now understood that I should've told him earlier. Waiting had only made it worse.  
  
Zane nodded, not looking at me. I didn't think he had even heard my explanation. "Yeah." His voice was barely audible. "He told me. He was the one that told me to kidnap Corey. So I kinda knew already. I just needed closure I guess." He walked over to the window and stared at something down below.  
  
He seemed so far away now. In reality it was only two metres or so, but that will still too far. "Zane..." I whispered apologetically.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me? You tell me everything." He interrupted before I could say anything more.  
  
I so don't deserve him, I thought. He was actually giving me a chance to explain. I didn't give HIM a chance to explain. I had hit him and punched him and told him that he was a bastard. He had every right to do that to me now, but he didn't. I almost wanted him to.  
  
"We were gonna get married and we were really happy....I didn't want anything to get between us." It was now my turn to be ashamed. And believe me, I was.  
  
Zane whirled around. "It WOULDN'T have gotten between us Jondy! I'm an X5 too; I understand what it's like when you're in heat. You said yourself that it didn't mean anything. You should've told me."  
  
"I know." I said quietly, reaching out for him. "I'm sorry."  
  
Zane shook his head and folded his arms, indicating to me that he didn't want to be touched. "Too late now that we've found out that Corey is White's son."  
  
"Don't say that!" I exclaimed. "That's disgusting."  
  
Zane shrugged. "It's true isn't it?"  
  
I stared at him, shocked. Did he really believe that? Hearing such negative words coming from his mouth brought tears to my eyes. But I guess I couldn't blame him. I'd die if I found out that Corey wasn't my son. I couldn't even imagine what it would like for him. I wanted to comfort him and tell him that everything would be alright, but he didn't want me near him. What I wouldn't give to have back that nice moment that we'd had before.  
  
My mouth was dry. "The odds are really slim. It was only once-"  
  
"The odds are MORE than slim. They're huge, actually. You're most likely to get pregnant when you're in heat. That's the whole purpose of it."  
  
I swallowed thickly. He was right. And that weird writing on Corey's back...that had to be something to do with the breeding cult.  
  
"-And what are we gonna do if Corey IS his son huh?" He continued.  
  
I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I was paralysed. What WERE we going to do if Corey was White's son? The thought of it made me sick. There was no way I was giving Corey up.  
  
"I'm going for a walk." Zane said suddenly.  
  
"Zane-" I objected. That wasn't a good idea. The last time we had had a fight and he went out for a walk, he had almost been killed by the Familiars and he had been taken back to Manticore.  
  
"No!" Zane snapped, raising his voice for the first time. "I just wanna be alone for a bit, ok?"  
  
I watched him as he walked out of Maxie's apartment and shut the door quietly. I didn't follow him. What the hell had I done?  
  
We were so pathetic. We always seemed to have a fight just when we needed each other the most.  
  
************************************************  
  
A/N: If you want me to tell you when the next chapter has been posted, you can leave me your email in a review or you can email me. 


	9. Cat Fight

************  
CHAPTER NINE  
************  
  
TYRA  
  
I couldn't wipe the smirk off my face as I held her over the edge of the Space Needle. My hands were wrapped firmly around her neck and nothing gave me more satisfaction than to see her choking helplessly. I had the upper hand here. Once I loosened my fingers, she would plunge to her death. That was the exact reason for our little rendezvous - I wanted her to die.  
  
"C'mon, aren't you gonna beg for mercy?" I jeered, my hatred for her evident in my voice.  
  
She stared at me with cold and emotionless eyes. "Wouldn't give you the satisfaction." Her voice was raspy, and for good reason. I was cutting off her air supply.  
  
I wasn't too worried about her suffocating - given her X5 abilities, she'd go without air for at least seven minutes. I wanted her to die with the full weight of her crimes on her shoulders, so for the moment we were having a deep and meaningful conversation.  
  
"See why I hate you? You spoil all my fun." I pointed out.  
  
"That's not the only reason why you hate me."  
  
I shrugged, pleasantly surprised. The bitch was smarter than I thought. "Ok, fine. I hate you in more ways than one. Ever since you and those other kids bailed on us, my life has been hell. And by that I mean Psy-Ops, Psy- Ops and more Psy-Ops, brainwashing, torture and yes, you said it, more Psy- Ops. Why us? Why ME? I'm not the one who abandoned the mission; I'm not a coward or a traitor. But I got punished. And you know what? It's all your fault!" I spat out.  
  
For the briefest moment I saw a flash of sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry. We didn't know that there -"  
  
I released my anger by squeezing her throat even tighter, cutting her voice off. She let out a strangled cry. Didn't she know that I didn't care about her side of the story? I had suffered too much at her expense for her to deserve the right to voice her pathetic excuses.  
  
"Shut up!" I ordered, pausing as I waited for her to obey. She struggled in my grip, but she was no match for me. Only ten minutes ago she had had a seizure, and that weakened her.  
  
"There's more." I snapped. "You didn't realise the consequences of your escape, did you? You didn't know that while you were gallivanting around in the outside world, all free with no responsibility, we were copping the bad end of the bargain. DID YOU?!" I yelled, feeling the anger burning up inside me.  
  
I shook her to make sure she was listening to me. "And you know what makes me hate you even more? After all you've done, you still have a perfect life. You have a family. You're loved. You have a husband who would walk through the deepest, darkest depths of hell for you. And what do you do? You cheat on him! You throw it all away for some one night stand with a freak from a cult. You don't deserve to have a perfect life, Jondy."  
  
I fixed a penetrative gaze onto her, not letting her eyes leave mine. To my surprise I saw tears of guilt welling up in them. I had never cried before, and seeing Jondy on the verge of tears...well, it was almost like watching myself cry.  
  
Good! I thought. Let her cry. I didn't care if she was feeling all the pain in the world at that moment. She was poison. She made me sick.  
  
"You don't deserve Zane." I finished off in a deadly tone of voice.  
  
"I know." Jondy whispered with a grief stricken look on her face. "But please don't kill me. I need to find Corey...."  
  
"Don't you worry. I'll take care of that. And they won't even realise that you're gone." I replied, my voice sickeningly sweet.  
  
Jondy frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Well, let's just say I'll be right there to take your place, honey." And I meant that literally. I was going to take her place. After all, if a little bitch like her was allowed to have a nice family like that, then why couldn't I? And since she was going to be out of the picture in a few seconds time, Zane and Corey would be left all alone. Ok, ok, I knew Zane would never love me as much as he loved Jondy. Hell, I knew that he wouldn't even love me HALF as much as he loved Jondy. That's why it was so crucial to get rid of her. I could PRETEND to be her. And maybe, one day I would tell him the truth, once he saw that I could be just as good a wife as Jondy was. Possibly even better.  
  
Once Jondy caught the meaning behind that statement, she yelled furiously, "They'll never fall for it!"  
  
"Why not?" I sneered. "Krit and Syl did. Corey did. Face the facts, Jondy. I AM you, whether you like it or not. We're clones, remember?"  
  
Jondy began struggle even harder, her blue eyes flashing with anger and disbelief. "Believe me, they'll know. I'm not sure whether or not Zane still loves me, but he doesn't love you. Do you even know what love means?"  
  
"If you can learn, then so can I." I said boldly.  
  
"Don't you dare lay a finger on Corey." She growled through gritted teeth. "You'll probably break his neck accidentally while you're playing with him!"  
  
"Like I said, I can learn to be all maternal. Manticore taught us how to adapt to all kinds of situations."  
  
"Corey is NOT a SITUATION! HE IS A LIVING, BREATHING LITTLE BOY! How could you look him in the eye and let him call you 'Mommy'? It's not right!"  
  
"Yeah, and do you know what else is not right? The way you get to have all the goodies in life, after all you've done!"  
  
Jondy sighed (as much as she could consider my hand was clamped around her throat) in defeat. "You've made your point, alright? I know I'm a heinous bitch that deserves to burn in hell. But that doesn't mean you should sink down to my level."  
  
I stared at her as if she were stupid. "Who said anything about sinking down to your level? I'm just taking what's rightfully mine."  
  
Jondy's eyes narrowed. "Get. Your. Own. Family." she hissed.  
  
"Bite me." I shot back.  
  
Then I loosened my fingers.  
  
I watched her as she plummeted down to the hard ground at a speed which no one could survive.  
  
And she didn't even scream.  
  
********************************************************************  
  
ZANE  
  
I walked out of Max's apartment block feeling numb. I didn't know why I had been so upset when Jondy blurted out, "We had sex, ok?" White had said the exact same words to me just a few days ago. But hearing it come out of Jondy's mouth....it was like a good hard slap in the face. It stung. And it made me do something that I'd never done before - question whether or not our relationship was as perfect as I'd thought.  
  
Didn't she love me? Wasn't I good enough for her? One part of me said that these were stupid questions, but I had never felt so insecure in my life.  
  
I didn't know what the hell was happening between us. Of all people I never thought that she would keep secrets from me. We trusted each other with everything. And because we were both X5s, we had a mutual understanding of one another - the seizures, the bad dreams, what it was like to be hunted and haunted by your memories. We didn't have explain things to each other. We just knew. That was the difference of being with a transgenic rather than an Ordinary. I didn't have to be afraid that she'd leave me if she found out that I was a freak.... because she was a freak too.  
  
Now there was a possibility that it would all change.  
  
I kept trying to tell myself that it wasn't a big deal. So Jondy slept with a guy without telling me. So what? She had a justifiable reason. But then again, because of that I had believed a lie. I thought Corey was my son. Mine and Jondy's son. That was all bull shit. If I couldn't trust Jondy, who COULD I trust?  
  
I shook my head as I walked down a crowded marketplace in Seattle. I didn't want to think about this. I didn't want to think about what it would be like living my life without her, whether or not this whole thing with Ames White worked out.  
  
Suddenly someone slammed into me with their bicycle. And it just happened to be on the exact spot where Jondy had kicked me before.  
  
"WATCH IT!" both me and the owner of the bike yelled angrily, at the same time. Pain shot up my leg.  
  
I looked up and my expression softened when I realised that it was Max that had run into me. She looked different. Maybe it was the fact that instead of wearing army fatigues, she was wearing black pants, sneakers, a jacket and a cap.  
  
"Hey." I said, surprised.  
  
"Zane!" Max exclaimed. "Sorry. I kinda lost control of my bike." She shifted a bag of groceries around in her arms.  
  
"Geez Maxie, didn't they teach you how to carry groceries and control a bike at the same time at Manticore?" I teased half-heartily. I wasn't really in the mood for joking, which was unusual for me.  
  
Max shrugged. "Nah," she drawled. "They were too busy torturing me."  
  
I gave her a sympathetic look but she dismissed it. We started walking in the direction she had been beading before, exchanging small talk. It was quite boring but I wanted to keep it that way to avoid the subject of Corey's mysterious kidnapping. Because if we started talking about that, the conversation would eventually lead to Jondy....someone I really didn't want to be talking about right now.  
  
But unfortunately, the inevitable arrived.  
  
"So...I guess I don't get to meet Corey just yet huh?" Max said softly.  
  
I shook my head and took a bag of groceries from her arms, avoiding her eyes.  
  
Max was silent for a while, as if she was waiting for me to talk to her. I said nothing, so she spoke again. "But I will get to see him, right?"  
  
I shrugged wordlessly, feeling something eat its way into my heart. Was this supposed to help me?  
  
"At least Jondy's OK."  
  
"Yeah," I murmured in agreement. She was right in saying that.  
  
"Bet you miss him, huh?" Max prompted tentatively.  
  
I knew what she was doing now. She was trying to get me to talk. Very discreetly. And unsuccessfully. But why? To make sure that I was alright or something? Maybe she was just trying to help. I dunno. All I knew that talking about this was only making me feel worse. Didn't she know that Corey wasn't my son? Wait a minute...she didn't. I hadn't told her yet.  
  
I sighed at my own idiocy.  
  
"So, are you gonna tell me or what?" Max's voice was more forceful than it had been before. I hated the way she could see right through me. "Zane. I'm your sister."  
  
"Alright." I paused.  
  
Max raised her eyebrows expectantly.  
  
"Well, Jondy kinda slept with some guy when she was in heat one time and now he's thoroughly convinced that Corey's his son and to make matters worse he's part of a breeding cult called the Familiars and Corey's gonna help them bring about the end of the world." I rattled off automatically, like I was reciting my ABCs. I had told this story so many times ( minus that part where Jondy had slept with White because I wasn't a hundred percent sure it was true ) that it wasn't funny.  
  
Max stopped dead in her tracks and stared at me in disbelief. "I don't know how you can say that so casually," she muttered after a while.  
  
"Can't go 'round feelin' sorry for yourself." I said dryly. "S'not gonna make things better."  
  
Max ignored my comment. "Jondy cheated on you, and you're ok with that?" she asked incredulously as she continued walking.  
  
I sighed, following her. She wasn't giving up. "No, I'm not ok with that. But it's in the past. Just leave it there." I replied curtly, hoping that I had ended the conversation.  
  
"You're not upset? Not even a little bit?" Max prodded on, ignoring my attempt to avoid the subject. "She lied to you."  
  
Of course I was upset. I felt betrayed. But that didn't mean that I had to analyse the situation to death.  
  
"I don't want to talk about it." I muttered grumpily.  
  
"Well you're going to have to talk to her eventually, coz you can't let it get in the way. You need to look for Corey. And you need each other -"  
  
"Don't you think I know this?!" I exploded. Suddenly it had become too much. I couldn't stand this. "I know! I'm not stupid! I just can't do it now, coz it hurts, ok? She tried to explain, but I didn't let her. I couldn't look at her anymore, because when I do all I see is Ames White laughing at me!"  
  
Max looked startled. I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. I was attracting an audience. Then I said a bit sheepishly, "Sorry. Can we just forget about it?"  
  
"You sure you don't wanna talk about it?" Max asked gently.  
  
I did want to talk about it actually. But I wanted Jondy. Not Max. No offense to her or anything. I nodded, trying to reassure her that I was alright and that she didn't need to treat me like a small child who had just had their lollipop snatched away by the town bully.  
  
"Whatever." Max deadpanned, the usual emotionless expression resuming its position on her face. "It's already forgotten." And with that she stormed off in the direction we were heading before my outburst.  
  
I couldn't tell whether or not she was pissed at me, or whether or not she expected me to follow her. But considering that I still had a bag of her groceries, I figured that I probably should. I ran to catch up with her, half expecting her to yell at me. I realised that was getting yelled at a lot today. Syl yelled at me for lying to her, Jondy yelled at me for putting Corey in danger, and there was a possibility that Max would yell at me too. Couldn't I do anything right?  
  
Instead, as I fell into step with my baby sister, she said cheerfully as if she had no memory of our conversation before, "So you wanna come with me to Joshua's house?"  
  
I sighed inwardly with relief. She'd gotten the hint that I really, really didn't want to talk about Jondy. I could've kissed her. "Who's Joshua?" I asked.  
  
"A friend of mine. He's....a nomaly," she replied casually.  
  
"What?!" I exclaimed, horrified.  
  
A nomaly? Had she gone mad or something? Had Manticore totally screwed with her mind? Nomalies were the one thing that '09 escapees were scared to death of. I mean, why wouldn't we be? They drank your blood for dinner!  
  
Max grabbed both of my shoulders and made me look at her. "Look, listen to me. And don't panic."  
  
"Don't panic?" I interrupted. Images of crazy nomalies with fangs and twisted faces growling at us filled my mind. "Don't you remember what Ben told us about them? They're evil! I'm not the one in need of psychiatric help, you are!"  
  
Max rolled her eyes at me. "I never said you needed psychiatric help. And do you really believe what Ben told us? They were just stories made up to give us some answers on why our lives were the way they were. That doesn't mean that they're true. We just didn't know any better. Those nomalies were treated just as bad as we were. And besides, Joshua's really sweet. He couldn't hurt a fly. Trust me."  
  
I looked at her warily, trying to decide whether or not her speech was a result of insanity, or whether she was just trying to get me to see the truth. "You sure 'bout this?"  
  
"Positive." Max assured me.  
  
I sighed. It usually took ages for Max to trust someone. So if she trusted this Joshua guy not to hurt her, then maybe it would be safe to go there. Unless she was insane.  
  
I forced that thought out of my head and said, "Ok. I got nothing better to do." I seriously hoped that Max knew what she was doing.  
  
About ten minutes later we stopped outside a huge, very rickety looking house. It would've looked really nice during the pre-pulse days. Now it looked....like shit.  
  
Max grabbed my wrist and led me to the door and I followed reluctantly. I hated to admit it, but I was terrified. I kept hearing Ben's voice in a hushed whisper -  
  
"They'll drag you to the dungeons, cut you open and drink your blood!"  
  
I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down. He's just another transgenic. Nothing to worry about. We're practically family. I shuddered. Family?  
  
"Joshua!" Max called out to what seemed like an empty house. Then she said to me quietly, "Don't worry. It's alright."  
  
I turned my face away and tried to make myself look busy by checking out the inside of the house. I didn't want her to think that I was weak, or scared.  
  
"WHAT was that, 205? You were SCARED? Scared, 205? Good soldiers do not get scared! Good soldiers do not have emotions, you do not fear anything! Your mind has been corrupted by the world outside. Do you need to be reminded of your duties as a soldier, 205?" Renfro roared.  
  
"Joshua!" Max called again, walking further into the house, leaving me standing in the doorway with a bag of only God knows what.  
  
I placed the bag on the floor and walked into the living room. It was so dusty. There was a lot of old furniture there though. An old armchair. Books scattered everywhere. A fireplace. Wooden floorboards.  
  
I picked up one of the ancient books and began leafing through it. It was in some weird language that I didn't even recognize, which was strange considering Lydecker had made sure that we could speak almost every language on the planet. I flipped to the front to see the title of the book, but it didn't really have one. It was just a picture of some kind of lion or a tiger. For some reason it seemed oddly familiar. I racked my memory, trying to figure out where I'd seen it before, but some black writing at the top of the page caught my eye.  
  
Sandeman.  
  
That's what it said. My heart rate increased. That was the guy who created the Familiars! Maybe he knew where Corey was! But then again, if he was part of the Familiars, he'd most likely kill me before he told me anything.  
  
I guess that made this house enemy territory.  
  
"Who are you?" demanded a slightly accented voice.  
  
I whirled around, startled. Before me stood the nomaly. Joshua. Whatever.  
  
I wasn't even able to answer his question, I was so stunned. I had never been this close to a nomaly before, and I had wanted to keep it that way. No such luck.  
  
He looked like...well, a dog. Sort of. And he was enormous. Even taller than me and I had been the tallest out of all the X5s. I resisted the urge to back away from him.  
  
He glared at me suspiciously, and sniffed the air. "Hmmm. Cat in your cocktail."  
  
I had absolutely no idea what he meant. So I didn't say anything. I just gulped.  
  
"Hey big fella, there you are!" Max reappeared out of no where. I had never been so glad to see her in my life. "Joshua, this is my brother Zane."  
  
"Zane?" He turned to face me, giving me a pointed look.  
  
I nodded a bit stiffly.  
  
To my surprise, the nomaly's face broke out into a smile. A doggy smile. Then he held up his hand, waiting for me to give him a high-five.  
  
I gave him one and relaxed slightly. "Hey."  
  
"I have a brother too." He said shyly. He seemed pretty nice. Now I felt kind of stupid for being scared shitless about a bed-time story. I mean, sure, he sure as hell looked freaky, but his voice was soft and gentle. Guess you can't believe everything you hear.  
  
Max smiled fondly at him. "Really? What's his name?"  
  
"Isaac. Twin brother. Looks like me." Joshua hung his head, looking slightly depressed. Maybe he missed Isaac. Max decided to change the subject.  
  
"So what did you do today?"  
  
"Read father's books," he replied.  
  
That definitely got my attention. "You mean, like this one?" I held up the book that I was holding.  
  
"Hey!" Max butted in before Joshua got a chance to answer. She snatched the book away from me and scrutinized the picture of the lion-tiger-thing, looking thoughtful.  
  
"That's one of father's books." Joshua managed to reply, finally.  
  
"Yeah, and that's the Manticore symbol!" Max cried out again. She pushed the book into my face. "Look."  
  
I nodded in realization as the memories suddenly flooded back to me. I remembered seeing it once before the escape, but only once, when someone had accidentally left some files in the barracks. The symbol had been at the top of the papers, but instead of just a lion it had the letter 'M' intertwined with it.  
  
"It's a bit different though." Max wondered out loud, echoing my thoughts exactly. "Your father just keeps poppin' up everywhere," she said to Joshua.  
  
I was confused. "What? Who's your father?"  
  
"Joshua's father. Sandeman." Max replied.  
  
"Sandeman's your father?" I yelped in surprise. That was definitely unexpected. "Where is he?"  
  
Joshua shrugged. "Gone. He lived here, before. Tried to find him. But I couldn't. He's gone."  
  
"Oh. I'm sorry." I said quietly. "D'you know anything about the Familiars though? Or can you read this writing?"  
  
Joshua shook his head apologetically.  
  
I sighed. "Darn." I had never felt so bloody useless. I knew that I should have been doing something, anything, to get Corey back, but I didn't know what. I had no clues, no leads, nothing. And I most certainly couldn't go to the police to report that Corey had been kidnapped, 'coz, well, Ames White WAS the police. Deep down I knew that there was nothing I could do until White called to tell me the answer to that horrible question, but I didn't want to admit that it was out of my hands.  
  
Max noticed my crestfallen expression. "You gonna tell me what you're thinking? Maybe I can help you, y'know."  
  
"I can't just sit here and do jack shit, Maxie, while Corey's out there, somewhere. Dammit, what if he'd really scared? He's never been away from me or Jondy for more than half a day. And that half a day was only when we both had to go to work. I know he might not even be my kid, but still..." I trailed off.  
  
"You really care about him, I know." Max finished off for me. She paused, looking at the book I was holding. "So what's got you all fascinated by that thing anyways?"  
  
"Say's Sandeman in it. He's part of the Familiars. And he created Manticore, apparently. Thought it might tell me something. Anything. Like maybe what the Familiars want with Corey. I know that 'he is crucial in the survival of the Familiars', or some shit like that, but there has to be more to it. Only problem is, I can't understand the writing."  
  
Max took the book from me and flipped through the pages. "You're right." She frowned. "You know what? I can ask Logan if he can translate this for you, if you like."  
  
I looked up at the nomaly that had been waiting so patiently while me and Max talked. "Only if it's ok with Joshua. It's yours, after all."  
  
Joshua nodded his consent, after a moment of thought. "Don't spill coffee on it." He said with all seriousness.  
  
Max smiled. "I tell Logan to be careful."  
  
"Thanks, man." I yawned suddenly. I realised that I was dead tired due to the lack of sleep I had been getting over the last few months. "Can I crash on your sofa, Maxie?"  
  
"Thought you'd be sleeping on the same bed as Jondy. That would be more comfortable." Max suggested.  
  
I lowered my eyes.  
  
"The sofa." Max piped up, trying to break up the tension in the room. "Sleep on the sofa. The sofa's good."  
  
I let out a small laugh. "Thanks. If you need to sit on it, just kick me, or something."  
  
"Will do," she agreed.  
  
"And Maxie?"  
  
Max groaned, pretending to be annoyed. "What is it now? You're worse than a five year old demanding attention," she snapped. But she was smiling.  
  
"Thanks. For everything." I was particularly referring to the book. I had absolutely no idea what was going to be in there. For all I knew, it was just Shakespeare in a foreign language. But then again, the Manticore symbol was on it. That had to mean something.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
I picked the lock on Max's apartment and walked in like I had a few hours ago. The only memories I had of this place were the ones of me and Jondy fighting.  
  
"I HATE YOU! I hate you so much! Why'd you let them take him? For fuck's sake, HE'S YOUR SON! You're supposed to keep him safe and now he could be dead and it's all your fault!"  
  
I winced and listened for any sign of movement that would tell me that Jondy was still in here. I still didn't feel like talking to her.  
  
"Bastard. Get your hands off me."  
  
I made my way to the sofa and gratefully laid down on it. As I shut my eyes I tried to let sleep wash over me, but I couldn't.  
  
"You lied to Krit and Syl. They're your best friends. And you lead Corey to believe that that girl was me. Why should you treat me any different?"  
  
I lay there for about ten minutes, trying to ignore the sound of Jondy's voice in my head. Finally, with a sigh of annoyance, I turned onto my stomach. All I wanted was to have a long, dreamless sleep.  
  
"How could you do something like this? What did they do to you?"  
  
By then I had drifted off into a daze, and when a hand suddenly touched my back, I jumped out of my skin. I leapt up, completely alert, and grabbed the intruder's shirt, slamming them back onto the sofa. Why hadn't I heard them come in? Geez, I thought. Tyra was right. I was getting sloppy.  
  
I came face to face with familiar blue eyes that were filled with surprise. "Jondy?" I gasped, letting go of her instantly. "Sorry. You scared me."  
  
"I woke you up," she said quietly, still recovering from the shock of my attack.  
  
"Nah. I couldn't sleep. Did I hurt you?" I knew it was a dumb question. It was kinda insulting to her, too. She was an X5. It would take a lot more than what I had just done to hurt her physically.  
  
She shook her head, giving me a concerned look.  
  
I wanted to talk to her. I really did. I wanted to tell her all my insecurities and all my fears. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't forget the way she'd backed away from me like I was some monster that she didn't recognize. It had been a few hours ago now, and I knew that she thought I had been reindoctrinated, but the point is, I HADN'T. It was me who did all those horrible things. I had agreed to give Corey away, not 205. She had every right to tell me that she hated me, but I didn't want her to do it again. I didn't think I could take it.  
  
We both sat in an uncomfortable silence. Jondy looked as if she didn't know what to say. I had walked out on her after all.  
  
"I'll let you sleep." As she got up to leave, I grabbed her hand.  
  
"Don't go," I whispered, suddenly desperate for comfort. We had to get over this weirdness between us. "I don't wanna be alone."  
  
Jondy's expression softened and I pulled her back down onto the sofa with me. I lay down so that her back was against my chest and pulled her close as she snuggled against me. I expected to feel safer, warmer, but instead as soon as she was in my arms alarms bells went off. Something was seriously wrong, but I didn't know what.  
  
Jondy seemed to sense my unease, and turned her head to look at me. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.  
  
"Does something feel..weird..to you?" I said uncertainly.  
  
Jondy frowned. "Apart from the fact that Corey's gone?"  
  
"No." I replied. "It's something else."  
  
"Are you sure? Maybe you're just worried about Corey." She said quickly.  
  
I sighed, frustrated. Maybe I was just being paranoid. "Yeah, probably." I agreed, but I was unable to shake off the feeling that something wasn't right.  
  
"Don't worry Zane," she said in a low voice. "We'll find him."  
  
I nodded and offered her a tiny smile, but I still wasn't the least bit consoled. What surprised me the most was when she leaned forward to place a soft kiss on my lips, I didn't feel anything. I kissed her back, but the familiar rush of I-would-die-for-you love that usually coursed through my veins was absent.  
  
As she deepened the kiss I pretended that nothing was wrong. I didn't want to have to explain to her all the fucked up thoughts that were running through my head. What was wrong with me? First I was willing to give my only son to a psychopath, and now I failed to feel a single ounce of emotion for the woman I had loved for more than five years.  
  
I began to panic slightly. Wasn't I in love with her anymore? A few hours ago I had loved her more than anything. I knew that for a fact - I mean, if I didn't love her, I probably wouldn't have given a crap if she slept with Ames White. I would've just left her without a second thought and gotten over it.  
  
But I did care. I cared a lot. That didn't explain why I just suddenly ...stopped..loving her. Maybe I was just feeling bitter and resentful because of what she'd done. Maybe. But whatever it was, I hoped that it was just a phase I was going through, and that it would leave as fast as it came - because if it didn't, what was I going to tell Jondy?  
  
Jondy finally pulled back from me and I brushed her hair gently away from her face, trying to act like everything was normal. She smiled at me, her eyes bright and happy, before turning around and leaning back into me.  
  
I sighed and realised that the feeling that something wasn't right was still lingering at the back of my mind. I pushed it away, feeling thoroughly annoyed with myself. I was about to close my eyes and go to sleep when I caught sight of the barcode on Jondy's neck, which was no longer covered up by her hair.  
  
Usually it wouldn't have bothered me much. I knew how much she hated getting it removed. It stung like hell so she avoided it at all costs. But something about the last three numbers made me take a closer look.  
  
211.  
  
A wave of shock radiated through me as I tried to register this without Jondy - or whoever this was - realising.  
  
You've got to be kidding me, I thought. The girl lying next to me couldn't be Tyra. No. Tyra HATED me, so I couldn't see why she would...  
  
I squeezed my eyes shut and then took another look, hoping that my eyes had been deceiving me.  
  
No such luck. The numbers on the end of the barcode still read 211, as clear as crystal.  
  
I still didn't trust myself. She was Jondy...wasn't she? But then again, Tyra had managed to fool Krit and Syl, so there was no reason why she couldn't fool me. But would she really stoop so low? I decided to ask her a question that I was positive only Jondy would know the right answer to.  
  
"Hey," I murmured, sounding reminiscent. "Remember that time Corey had that imaginary pet mouse? He loved that thing. And when it died, he cried for about three hours straight." I let out a small laugh, for the effect.  
  
I knew that if this was really Jondy, she'd look at me like I was complete idiot and ask me what I was going on about, because what I had just said was completely untrue. Corey had never had an imaginary pet anything.  
  
"Yeah, that was so cute," came the reply.  
  
I froze. So it really was Tyra.  
  
In a way I was relieved, because that explained the reason why I felt no love for her and why I had sensed something was wrong. But as soon as I had that figured out I was faced with another, more serious dilemma - if this was Tyra, then where was Jondy?  
  
I leapt up, desperate to get as far away from Tyra as possible. I flattened myself up against the wall while she stared at me from the sofa, looking utterly perplexed at my sudden movement.  
  
"What now?" She gave me a strange look as she sat up.  
  
"Don't play all innocent with me," I growled, feeling disgusted at myself for falling for Tyra's stupid trick; angry at Tyra for doing what she did; and worried because I had a feeling that something might have happened to Jondy. "I know you're not Jondy."  
  
"Zane, what are you talking about, you big idiot? Of course I'm Jondy. Who else would I be - the ghost of Christmas past?" she snapped, insulted.  
  
A feeling of doubt descended upon me. That was exactly what Jondy would've said.  
  
Tyra sensed the lack of confidence I had in my accusation, and stood up to take advantage of it.  
  
"Look sweetie, you're just tired. It's been a tough couple of days. I know you're worried about Corey but it wouldn't hurt to get some sleep," she said calmly, trying to soothe me.  
  
I was tempted to take her advice, but my stomach churned uncomfortably. "No." I whispered, following my gut instinct. "I saw your barcode. You're not Jondy."  
  
Tyra glared at me. "You've gone completely bonkers, if you ask me," she replied smoothly, showing no sign that she was going give herself up anytime soon.  
  
Anger flared up inside me. I grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face- first into the wall. Usually I didn't resort to violence on women - genetically engineered or not - but this seemed to be the only way to get her to tell the truth.  
  
I whipped the hair away from her neck, not bothering to be gentle, and ran my finger over her barcode. "See. 339367281211." I read out, slowly and carefully.  
  
Tyra let out what sounded like an annoyed grunt. "Fine, you caught me," she sighed, sounding faintly amused.  
  
"I thought so," I said triumphantly, keeping her pressed up against the wall. "Now tell me, why did you do it, huh? You working for White? Did he tell you to pretend to be Jondy and kill me when I let my guard down?"  
  
"You know, impossible as it may seem, I don't always have to take orders from someone. I'm capable of doing whatever I like without someone to boss me around," she huffed.  
  
"Oh, WOW!" I cried with fake enthusiasm. I wasn't the least but interested in what she was or wasn't capable of doing. I just wanted to why she was pretending to be Jondy. "Now answer my question." I demanded.  
  
"I'm not working for White," she replied quietly, after a pause.  
  
Surprisingly, I felt slightly disappointed with her answer. If she had been working for White, at least I could've had some way of getting in contact with him. She might've known where Corey was, and I could've tortured it out of her.  
  
"So if you're not working for White, then what the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled into her ear, getting madder by the minute. "Did you think that it would be funny to trick me into thinking that you were Jondy? Is it some kind of dumb joke? Did you -"  
  
"NO!" Tyra interrupted, squirming. "NO, OK?! It wasn't like that!"  
  
I was officially confused now. I couldn't think of any more reasons why Tyra would do this. "Then what?" I wrenched her head back, the same way she did to me on the first night we met.  
  
Tyra winced. "Geez, no need to get violent. You were really sweet before."  
  
"That's because I thought you were Jondy," I said angrily. "And speaking of Jondy, would you happen to know where she is?"  
  
I didn't like the way Tyra laughed when I asked her that question.  
  
"She's burning in hell," she spat out, speaking to the wall. "Where she belongs."  
  
I paled, my heart pounding with fear and worry. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.  
  
"Meaning - she's dead."  
  
I released Tyra and stepped away from her. Those words had been totally unexpected. I took a moment to think about it. Then I laughed.  
  
"Oh she's dead, is she?" I mocked her as she turned to face me. I wasn't going to let her fool me this time. All she trying to do was weaken me, make me vulnerable. She wanted to make me do something stupid. Jondy was not dead.  
  
Tyra looked at me square in the eye. "Yes," she replied, deadly serious. "She's a goner."  
  
I remained unperturbed, and pretended to go along with this little lie of hers. I was mildly interested in what she was going to come up with. "And who killed her then? White?"  
  
Tyra shook her head. "Me," she said, quietly but purposefully. She kept watching me, without blinking, waiting for my reaction.  
  
Something about her graveness scared me, but I was never going to let her know that. Maybe she was telling the truth? Jondy....dead?  
  
No. I hastily reminded myself that Tyra was a very good actress. She would have to be. Manticore made sure of it.  
  
"You?" I snarled, getting tired of the game that we were playing. "Yeah, that'd be right. Sounds like something a conniving, heartless bitch like you would do. Kill someone that's done absolutely nothing to deserve it."  
  
I knew almost immediately that what I had just said had completely infuriated Tyra, because seconds later she exploded like a burning match that had been dropped in a pool of kerosene. I prepared myself for a fight.  
  
"DO YOU THINK I'M PLAYING SOME KINDA GAME?! THAT I'M JUST SOME LONELY, PATHETIC LITTLE GIRL LOOKING FOR ATTENTION? I'M TELLING YOU THE TRUTH! AND IF YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO REALISE -"  
  
"MY ASS YOUR TELLING ME THE TRUTH!" I yelled back at her. "You've given me no reason to trust you. For all I know, it's a trap! You tell me Jondy's dead, I go running off to find her, and White swoops down on me and you get a pat on the back!"  
  
Tyra rolled her eyes and let out a growl of frustration. "WHAT PART OF 'I'M NOT WORKING FOR WHITE' DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!"  
  
"YOU ARE SO FULL OF SHIT! WHY DON'T YOU JUST ADMIT THAT YOU'RE WORKING FOR WHITE? WHY ELSE WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU'VE KILLED JONDY?!"  
  
"Because I DID kill her, genius!" Tyra bellowed. "I fuckin' watched her die! I followed her up onto the Space Needle and there she was bawling her eyes out and I snuck up behind her and threw her off the edge! And believe me Zane, she didn't survive!"  
  
I was shocked into silence. Jondy. Dead. Gone forever..... I shook my head, trying to convince myself that Jondy was safe and alive. Maybe she was with Maxie. Or Krit. Or just taking a walk. "No. No - I don't believe you." I stammered, a little too quickly.  
  
Tyra was advancing on me; her blue eyes a cold, stormy ocean of hate and anger. She was a lot calmer now, and a lot scarier. "You better believe it, 'coz you won't be seeing her ever again."  
  
I was silent for a few moments. "You killed her." I whispered, finally, half to her, half to myself. I didn't know why, but I believed her now, no matter how much I wanted to deny that Jondy was dead. I should've recognized the crazy look of a murderer in her eyes much sooner than this.  
  
There was the slightest hint of a smile on Tyra's face. "Guilty."  
  
I stood there motionless, not knowing whether to scream or yell or hit something. I was so incredibly numb - I felt nothing. But I knew it was only because the harsh reality of it hadn't completely soaked in.  
  
I blinked and tried to clear my head. Maybe - just maybe -Jondy was still alive. Maybe she was lying there, waiting for someone to find her, hanging onto her last breath. Maybe I could look for her and take her to the hospital and then she'd be ok....  
  
Without another word I headed for the door, planning to take Max's Ninja and ride as fast as I could to the Space Needle to look for Jondy.  
  
"Where are you going?" Tyra demanded as I grabbed the keys for Max's motorcycle.  
  
"Lookin' for Jondy," I replied gruffly. I didn't wait for her to answer me, or follow me. I hoped to God that she wouldn't.  
  
As I leapt on to Max's bike I told myself that if she knew that I was riding it, she would kill me. But this had to be an exception, right? I mean, Jondy could be dying..  
  
What if I hadn't realised that Tyra was pretending to be Jondy? I thought as I wound through the streets of Seattle. Jondy would've been left there to die, and I never would have known. Did she think that she had been forgotten?  
  
"Don't worry baby, I'm coming," I whispered. I didn't know why I even bothered - my voice was immediately carried away by the wind.  
  
The Space Needle got bigger and bigger and soon enough it towered over me. A fence encircled it and I parked Max's Ninja and sailed over it.  
  
"Jondy!" I yelled, running about in all directions, searching the base of the Needle for Jondy. "Jondy, it's me! Where are you?"  
  
As each minute passed the intense feeling of terror and foreboding built up inside me. What if she really was dead...what would I do without her....I couldn't survive without her....never told her how much she meant to me....  
  
Then, finally, I saw her crumpled body lying next to an abandoned pile of furniture. I blinked to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. A stab of fear brought me to my senses and I darted towards her. She looked terrible. Her head looked as if it had been bashed in by a baseball bat and her hair was matted with dark blood. Her arm was twisted in an odd angle, and I was positive that she probably had acquired more injuries, only I couldn't see them.  
  
I sat down next to her with a shaky breath. Unlike when I was with Tyra, I felt an incredible surge of love and concern when I touched her face. Her skin was deathly cold.  
  
"C'mon Jondy," I called out softly. "It's ok now. Open your eyes....please be ok. Please don't be dead." Tears began to sting my eyes, and I continued pleading with her - "Wake up Jondy. It's me. It's Zane. You're gonna be alright. I'll take you home....just open your eyes...." The part of me that was a soldier told me that it was too late, but the part of me that was human got the better of me, and I scooped her up and cradled her limp form in my arms. "Don't leave me please, just hang on....I love you...."  
  
"Oh SHIT! Zane?" a familiar voice cried. It was Syl.  
  
I turned my head to see her rushing towards me. I had never felt so glad to see her....I couldn't think straight...she'd know what to do...  
  
"What happened? Oh, no.." she whispered, clamping a hand over her mouth as she crouched down next to me and Jondy. "Is she ok?"  
  
I shook my head as I watched Jondy, waiting for her to move, speak, give any sign to show that she was alive. "I-I dunno, I think she's...she won't wake up," I stumbled over the words, too distraught to speak.  
  
Syl, as calm as ever, pressed two fingers against Jondy's neck to check for her pulse. A heartbroken expression settled onto her face.  
  
"What?" I demanded, dreading the answer. "What is it?"  
  
Syl paused, looking torn. "She's dead, Zane."  
  
************************************************  
  
A/N: I'm sorry that I took an unbelievably long time to update this, I just couldn't get it out. Oh, and please tell me if you think that my story is morphing into something that is moronic, way too sappy or into an overly dramatic soapie....and I'll try my best to change it in the chapters to come. Because I really don't want my story to be something that is moronic, way too sappy or into an overly dramatic soapie, but I might be doing it without realising..you know what I'm saying? Oh and thank you to everyone who reviews, I really appreciate it - and a special thank you to Sammie and steph, my most loyal readers who review practically every time! ( You rock! 


	10. Risen

*********** CHAPTER TEN ***********  
ZANE "What?" I repeated, not believing what I just heard. "She's got no pulse. She's dead." Syl said quietly. "NO!" I yelled so loudly that Syl jumped back. "She's not dead!" I gave Jondy a squeeze and turned to face her. "Jondy! Jondy, look at me. Don't die on me. Wake up, please? You're gonna be OK." "Zane!" Syl interrupted, grabbing my arm. "I know how you're feeling right now but -" "No you don't!" I roared, pausing as I tried to blink back tears. "You don't know what it's like to lose your son and your wife at the same time, so just shut up, ok?!" A hurt look crossed over Syl's face, but I was so overcome with grief that I didn't care. I knew she was only trying to help me. She was being calm and rational when I couldn't, but I didn't want her to tell me that Jondy was dead. I didn't want to give up. I couldn't. Much to my relief, Syl was silent for the next few minutes, leaving me to disappear in my own dark pit of loneliness and pain. I went to check Jondy's pulse myself, hoping desperately to find that Syl was wrong and that Jondy was still alive. A voice at the back of my mind told me that Syl was perfectly capable of feeling for Jondy's pulse properly - and that I, on the other hand, was too upset to do it without my hands shaking. With two fingers pressed up against the side of her neck, I felt nothing. Deep down I had known that there would be no pulse, but I still kept my fingers there and willed Jondy's heart to start beating and do what it was supposed to be doing - giving her life. Jondy was too young to die. But then again, Eva had been too young to die as well, and yet she still had been murdered. The same applied to Jack, and Ben, and Tinga, and Zack. And what about Corey? He was the youngest and smallest - not to mention the most innocent - of them all, he was barely three years old. Was he still alive? While I was thinking I had finally given up. Jondy was dead. Shit happens. I had to accept it and get over it. Much easier said than done. "It's not fair," I whispered to a non-responsive Jondy. I slipped my hand around the back of her head and gently lifted her towards me. This was the last time I was ever going to see her, and I didn't want to take it for granted - but I already had so many regrets. Most of all, I was scared that she thought I didn't love her. I had definitely left her with that impression. Flashback "I'm going for a walk." I said suddenly. "Zane-" Jondy objected. "No!" I snapped, raising my voice for the first time. "I just wanna be alone for a bit, ok?" I walked out of Maxie's apartment and shut the door quietly. Jondy didn't follow me. End Flashback Why didn't I just stay with her? If I had known that those words would be the last words that I'd ever say to her, then I would've stayed. I tried to justify why I left by telling myself that I had been upset. About Corey getting kidnapped, about Jondy sleeping with some other guy and not telling me. I'd had enough. But now all I wanted was to turn back the time - and instead of just going for my stupid walk, I would've gone back, thrown my arms around her and told her over and over again that I was sorry for yelling at her. It didn't matter anymore what she did with Ames White three years ago, I didn't care. I just wanted her back. *Well that's too bloody bad, 'coz it's too late now, you dumb prick*, that voice said again. What had stopped me from going back? I asked myself. Pride maybe. And the fact that I wanted her to see how much she hurt me. A small sob pulled me out of my reverie. I looked up at Syl, who was struggling to keep herself under control, but was failing. She caught me watching her, and half covered her face with her blond hair, trying to cover up her tears. "Z-Zane, I'm so s-sorry," Syl sobbed, staring fixedly at the floor. "Ohh, poor Jondy, p-poor..Corey..what a-are you.." She could hardly put a proper sentence together. I realised I wasn't the only one who had suffered a loss. "I'm sorry too Syl." I said quietly. I was so lucky to have her there. I didn't want to do this alone, and I didn't have to. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." Syl sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "It's ok. So...what are you gonna tell Corey?" she asked cautiously. My heart constricted with sadness, and I shrugged. "I don't know. The truth, I guess. He's gonna be wondering where his mommy is if she doesn't come home after six months." That is, if I actually manage to find Corey, I thought miserably. He was all I had left. I didn't want to think about the look on his face when I told him that Jondy was gone forever. How was I supposed to help him cope with the loss when I could barely cope myself? The prospect of life without Jondy seemed scary, depressing, and so very lonely. I loved waking up with her warm, soft body curled up against mine. What was I going to do now that I wouldn't be able to run my fingers through her hair when we lay in bed in the morning, waiting for Corey to come barging in, demanding to be allowed to sleep in between us? I realised that I was going to miss Jondy's annoying habits as well - like the way she used to steal my toast and eat it when I had made it especially for myself. But I had grown so used to it that I developed the habit of making another piece of toast specifically so that Jondy could steal it. Now, since she was gone, I was going to get a rude shock when I ended up with an extra piece of toast every morning. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this," I said aloud. I wasn't really sure who I was talking to - myself, Syl, or Jondy. I ran a shaky hand through Jondy's hair and kissed her forehead tenderly. I pulled her closer to me, trying in vain to share some of my body heat with her, to warm her up. But it was no use. She just lay in my arms lifelessly, growing colder and colder, slipping further and further away from me. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this," I repeated, trying desperately not to break down completely. I would save that for when I was alone, where no one could see me or hear me. "We were supposed to live for a really long time, and....and....and have heaps of kids, remember?" I realised now that I was talking to Jondy. I thought that maybe if I reminded her of all the good things that could happen to us, then maybe she'd wake up mysteriously.  
  
"And Corey would have lots of brothers and sisters to play with. We could've had a big family, like the one we had at Manticore. Only our kids wouldn't have to be scared, coz we'll love them a lot, like we love Corey. They'll be free and they'll have the best life ever. And then they'll graduate from college or whatever, and we'll be really proud....and then they'll get married and we'll have grandkids. Then it'll be just us coz they would've all moved out. But maybe we could get some goldfish, you know? Like those really fat ones with the stubby tails. Bet you'll think that they're cute." It suddenly occurred to me that I was talking like it was actually going to happen. And that I DID want it to happen. With all my heart. But the only question was - how? The only person I wanted to have this with was Jondy, but she was gone. Dead. Murdered. I couldn't imagine being happy with anyone else. Hot anger burned inside me, mingling with all the sadness. "That bitch Tyra. I'll make her pay, Jondy. I promise. She won't get away with it. She can't take all that away from us." My voice trembled slightly with emotion. "I'll kill her, don't worry." But I knew that this was just as much my fault as it was Tyra's. How could I have fallen for Tyra's stupid trick? There I was making out with Tyra while Jondy was here, dying. If only I had gotten here quicker. If I hadn't spent so long trying to figure out why Tyra was pretending to be Jondy, if I hadn't spent so much time yelling at her, then maybe Jondy would be alive. And just maybe I wouldn't hate myself so much. "I'm so sorry," I whispered, my lips brushing against her forehead. I had completely and utterly failed her. All the times I had promised that I'd be there for her, that I'd keep her safe, that I'd never let anyone hurt her, ran through my head. I remembered it so clearly, and I had meant every word I had said - so why couldn't I keep those promises? I might as well have pushed her off the Space Needle myself. I was just as bad as the person who killed her, and I deserved all the pain and misery and loneliness that I was going to get. Suddenly, the most unexpected thing happened. Jondy moved. Or shook, more like. It started with her hands and was barely noticeable at first but the shakes grew stronger and stronger until her whole body was wracked with violent tremors. I sat there while she shook in my arms, eyes wide with shock. "She's having a seizure!" I cried to Syl, the terror evident in my voice. Syl looked just as scared as I felt. "Is this supposed to happen? I mean, she's dead...right?" she said uncertainly. "You said she was dead!" I yelled, tightening my arms around Jondy so that she wouldn't knock me out or hurt herself. At the same time I tried to feel for her pulse, but she was shaking so hard that it was difficult to know for whether it was actually her pulse. Syl leapt up. "Stay here! I'll go get help!" I didn't have time to object. Before I knew it she had blurred off. And all I could do was wait. "It's ok Jon," I whispered, trying to reassure myself as well as Jondy, although I wasn't exactly sure whether she could hear me. She's had plenty of seizures before, I told myself. This is no different. Just do what you normally do. I did the best I could to place her in my lap, tucking her knees up to her chest. Hugging her small, trembling frame to my chest protectively, I murmured soothing words into her hair. "Don't be scared. I'm here, I love you. It's ok. You'll be alright." But what if she wasn't alright? I realised suddenly that she needed tryptophan, or she'd die. But....wasn't she already dead? A small whimper answered my question, and my heart swelled with happiness. She WAS alive! I didn't ask how, or why, I just wanted her to stay with me.  
  
Jondy whimpered again, this time with pain. She was still shaking uncontrollably. My happiness vanished very quickly. When would her seizure stop? I didn't carry any tryptophan with me - when I got taken back to Manticore they had fixed up my seizures, so I didn't exactly need any. "Don't die," I begged softly, clutching on to her for dear life, as if that would keep her in the land of the living. "Hold on. Syl's coming -" "Make it stop," Jondy gasped, cutting me off. Her voice was so quiet that if she hadn't been so close I wouldn't have heard it. "It hurts so much. Please make it stop." I eyes filled with tears. Was I hurting her? "Jondy? Jondy, tell me where it hurts," I said desperately. I cupped her chin and tilted her head up carefully so that I could look into her eyes. "Tell me if I'm hurting you."  
  
She didn't seem to hear me at all, nor did she answer my question. Instead she kept sobbing with pain whilst I held her. Never in my life had I heard her complain about an injury, whether it was a gun shot wound, a broken bone or a paper cut. She always sucked it up like a good soldier - well, either that or it was her stubbornness that kept her from complaining. I didn't want to think about how much pain she must have been in at the moment for her to actually admit that it hurt. I looked down at her helplessly, stroking her back lightly in an attempt to get her to calm down. She was in a semi-conscious state, but it was just enough for her to feel the full impact of her injuries. I'd do anything to take away the pain just for five minutes, but I honestly did not know what to do. "Come on Syl." I muttered. "Hurry up. She's not looking too good." Then Jondy spoke again, for the second time. "Zane...." My heart gave a great leap at the sound of her calling out for me. "Hey baby. It's me." I murmured into her hair. Again she didn't reply. Disoriented, she kept repeating my name, and sometimes Corey's, her voice barely above a terrified whisper. She struggled to push me away from her, but her injuries wouldn't allow her to do that. As she sobbed quietly in desperation, I tried to convince her that I was here for her, that she wasn't alone, that I'd keep her safe. Those promises I would definitely keep. When she finally began to trust me, she stopped struggling. All that was left were the relentless shakes that were her seizure, which, much to my relief, were starting to subside. "Zane?" she whispered, staring up at me as if seeing me for the first time, as if she really couldn't believe I was actually there. She tucked her head under my chin and clung onto me. "Please don't go, I'm scared. Stay with me. Please. I'm scared. Don't go. Stay with me." Jondy was scared. I found myself wanting to do anything to diminish her fears. "Of course," I said softly, holding her close. She didn't even have to ask. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll never leave you again. I promise." We sat there in silence, waiting for the last of her seizure to pass. She wants ME, I thought proudly. She wants me, not Krit, not Maxie, not Syl. Me. It was very arrogant of me, but I couldn't help but feel possessive and protective of Jondy. But I was so happy to have gotten a second chance. The relief washed over me, and the terror and the dull, achy feeling of loss was slowly disappearing. I would not stuff this up. When her seizure finally stopped, Jondy let out a small sigh and leaned heavily onto my chest, clearly exhausted. "Are you alright?" I said anxiously. There was a pause, and then Jondy said quietly, "My head hurts." I suddenly remembered how bad her head injury was. "Don't worry. Syl's gone to get help. We'll take you to hospital. You're gonna be fine." I reassured her. Jondy tensed. "Hospital?" I nodded. "Yeah. I know you hate it, but you have to go. "You're really badly hurt." I paused and bit my lip. "You scared me, Jon. I thought you left me - I thought you were dead. And so did Syl." "Can't get rid of me that easily," Jondy joked weakly. I laughed in spite of my pounding heart. It felt good. Jondy had risen from the dead. If that was possible, then maybe we'd be able to get Corey back, safe and sound. Maybe everything would be alright after all. ************************************************ The next few hours went by as a blur. I still only have a hazy recollection of it. Syl finally arrived back with Max. What seemed like hours had actually only been twenty minutes. They were all amazed to hear that Jondy was alive, but no one was more surprised than me. I was still shocked. We all managed to get Jondy to a hospital by car. I didn't know whose it was - I didn't care. I just prayed that Jondy would be alright, that we'd get there fast enough. I sat with her in the back seat, her head resting on my lap. I couldn't tell whether she was unconscious or just sleeping. She murmured my name occasionally. She was so pale. I can remember Max punching one of the doctors in the face. When I carried Jondy into the hospital doctors and nurses swarmed around us. There was a lot of shouting, and one of them yelled at me, "What did you do to her? You beat her up, didn't you?" That statement stunned me. If my wife hadn't been on the brink of death I would've kicked his ass. But Max took care of that for me. They took Jondy away, but they wouldn't let me go with her. I didn't want to leave Jondy. I was so scared that she'd die again, that she'd leave me and I'd never get to see her again. And I didn't want her to think that I'd abandoned her. I had promised that I would stay with her. Jondy hated hospitals. They scared her - they reminded her too much of Manticore. Max, Syl and me sat down on some seats, waiting restlessly. I didn't know what to do with myself. People were looking at me weirdly. It took me ages to figure out why, then I realised that I had blood all over my hands, my shirt and my face. Jondy's blood. No wonder the doctor thought I had beaten her up. I hadn't even noticed it. I went to the bathroom to wash it off my skin, but I couldn't get it off my clothes. It was so unnerving - I was unwillingly reminded of the time back at Manticore when we tore apart that man, killed him in cold blood, because we thought he was going to hurt the Blue Lady. The blood had taken ages to get off - it stained us forever. I stood there for a while, staring at the sink, listening to the sound of the water from the tap gurgling down the drain. It helped distract me and for a while I was lost in it, my mind blank for once. Eventually I managed to lift my head up to look in the mirror. The reflection that stared back at my made me jump back in fright. Oh, it was me alright. For a few seconds I seriously doubted it, but it was definitely me. I looked terrible. My jaw was covered in dark, sore bruises and there was another one under my eye. I shifted up my blood stained shirt and discovered even more purple bruises on my stomach. Not to mention the one on my shin. I laughed out loud, even though there was nothing really amusing. So much for me beating Jondy up. "She was the one that did the beating, thanks," I said to no one in particular. Syl came in to the bathroom after a while, wondering what I was doing. I hadn't realised that I'd been here for so long. She told me that Jondy was going to be transferred to a doctor named Sam Carr, a friend of Maxie's, who knew about Manticore. Fair enough. I nodded mutely. So now I was here, sitting on Jondy's bed in the hospital. She was going to be alright. She had practically broken half the bones in her body. She'd needed a blood transfusion as well, because of all the blood she'd lost ( half of it was on me ). But she'd live. "I'm going to give her a lot of sedatives. It would kill a normal human, but it's necessary." Dr. Carr had told me earlier. "If I gave her the normal amount her body would get rid of it too quickly for it to take effect. And there's also the shark DNA which doesn't help. But she really needs to have a deep sleep for at least a day, or she won't heal properly. Alright?" So now she'd been out cold for a long time. It was strange to see. Usually she didn't sleep for more than half an hour at a time. I was slightly paranoid - I kept checking to see if she was breathing or not. But she was lying so still. I just couldn't help it. I was relieved, exhausted and amazed at the flood of different emotions a person could feel in just a single day. I wanted to sleep. A nice, long, dreamless sleep. Fat chance of that happening. But I was going to try anyway. And when Jondy got better we would dedicate every waking hour to looking for Corey. I got up slowly and pulled up a chair to Jondy's bed, sitting in it and laying my head next to hers on the pillow. I wanted to bury my head into her chest and disappear into her warmth - that usually helped me sleep - but I thought that if I did that I might hurt her or hinder her recovery. I lay there for so long, just watching her. I couldn't sleep. I lifted my head up and was seriously considering stealing some of those sedatives that the doctor had given Jondy and knocking myself out, when someone walked in.  
  
I looked towards the doorway with a slightly guilty expression on my face, thinking it was the doctor. The hospital's supplies were already running fatally low without people like me to steal from them. But no, it wasn't the doctor. Although I would've preferred it if it had been. I got up, shaking with a searing hot fury that I had never felt before. "Tyra," was all I could manage to get out without losing it completely. Tyra didn't answer me. She was staring at Jondy with acute shock. "That's right, she's alive, you bitch." I hissed at her. She had some nerve to come in here. I thought she'd be halfway to Canada by now. Oh well then, now I'd get the chance to tear her apart for doing what she did to Jondy. Jondy. I gazed at her as she slept peacefully at my side. It wouldn't be a very good idea to start yelling at Tyra in here. "Outside," I snapped at Tyra, striding out of the room, not wanting to wake Jondy. I wasn't really expecting her to follow me - actually, I had no clue what she was going to do. Tyra was so bloody unpredictable that it drove me mad. But she complied, much to my amazement. Usually, if you didn't have bleached spiky blond hair or go by the name of Renfro, it would've been very unlikely that Tyra would be taking orders from you. "What the hell are you doing here?" I snarled as soon as she made it through the doorway. "Come to gloat about all the trouble you've caused? Come to witness our misery?" "No, I -" Tyra stopped and cast her eyes downward. I rolled my eyes. I couldn't comprehend why she would be here, if it were not to make sure that she'd successfully ruined a couple of lives. That was another thing that pissed me off about Tyra - there was nothing certain about her. I could never manage to figure out what her agenda was. I wish she would give it out to me in black and white. My gaze burned into the top of her head. "Well?" I prodded impatiently. "Well what?" she said defensively. "What are you doing here? You better have a damn good reason 'coz if you don't, I swear I'm gonna kill you!" I growled through gritted teeth. A voice in my head was yelling 'She hurt Jondy! She nearly killed the love of your life! Make her pay!" It was so hard to hold myself back - all I wanted to do was wring her neck. But I wanted an explanation. "I'm here because I want to explain." Tyra answered, finally looking at me in the eye. Well that was definitely an informative answer. Not. "Explain WHAT?" I cried, exasperated. Much to my annoyance, Tyra answered a question with another question. "Zane, why do you think I killed...." Tyra paused to correct herself. "....TRIED to kill Jondy?" I was surprised at the sincerity of her question. Her voice was free from the sarcasm and malice that was usually there. But just because Tyra was being half-decent didn't mean I was going to be nice to her. "Well, because you hate me for getting you involved in my problems, you know, with White. I dunno, you just want revenge or something." The question had been a no-brainer, even though I hadn't really given it much thought. I had been too preoccupied with making sure Jondy was okay. Tyra gave me a tiny smile. A real smile. Not that usual smirky, annoying one. I felt slightly uneasy. What the hell was going on? What was she up to? Who was this, and where was the real Tyra? "That's not the reason, Zane." she said quietly. I raised my eyebrows. "Care to elaborate?" As soon as the words left my mouth, a thought suddenly occurred to me - Tyra had done the unforgivable, and here she was, about to explain to me why she tried to murder Jondy. And I was going to listen to her. What the hell was I thinking? "On second thoughts, don't bother." I snapped, furious with myself. I turned and began to walk away from her. There was a shocked silence from behind me, but a moment later Tyra grabbed my arm. "Please Zane, let me explain-" I threw her off me and spun around, glaring daggers at her. "EXPLAIN?!" I exploded. "What is there to explain? You tried to kill Jondy! What right do have to explain when you nearly took away the one person that makes me happy?!" "Because I don't want you to get the wrong idea! I can't leave without telling you the truth - I just don't want you to think that I did it to hurt you!" Tyra cried desperately. "But you DID do it to hurt me! It's the oldest trick in the book - go for the people they love, because that's what hurts them the most!" I shot back. "And that's exactly what you did 'coz you hate me so much and it's was the perfect way to get back at -" "I DO NOT FUCKING HATE YOU! IT'S THE EXACT OPPOSITE - I LOVE YOU!" Tyra clamped her hand over her mouth as soon as the words escaped her, her eyes wide. We were both shocked into silence. Ok, WHAT? HUH? Was I having a nightmare? "Pardon?" I said weakly. Please tell me I just had a moment of insanity. Tyra looked embarrassed and slightly unsure of herself. She didn't reply for so long that I thought she wasn't going to speak at all. But then, finally, she lifted her chin defiantly, looked me straight in the eye, and said, "It's true." The gesture reminded me so much of Jondy that I realised that they were both more alike that I'd originally thought. She possessed the same mental strength and determination that I found in Jondy. I suddenly became aware that Tyra was staring at me, looking for some sort of reaction. How was I supposed to react? What was I supposed to say? This had been totally unexpected. "But - I - why? This doesn't make any sense." I muttered, more to myself than to Tyra. Tyra snorted incredulously as if she couldn't believe it herself. "Tell me about it. I go from thinking that all that matters is staying loyal to Manticore, to ..." She glanced at me, as if to say, 'loving you'. I frowned at her, not entirely convinced that she actually loved me. Maybe she was saying to make up an excuse for trying to kill Jondy. She knew how the '09 escapees, especially me, were particularly susceptible to emotion. I wouldn't have been surprised if she thought that if she explained that her actions were the result of love, I'd let her off the hook. "That's not what I meant. If you love me so much, than why'd you try to kill Jondy? I don't know about what you do in Manticore, but out here, that isn't exactly a gesture of love." "You don't get it, do you?" Tyra sighed. "No, I don't." I snapped. The way she acted as if I was really slow on the uptake, pissed me off. It wasn't as if she made it obvious what she was on about. Tyra paused, thinking very hard about what she was going to say. "I did it because I wanted to belong somewhere, to someone. I wanted to be loved. I wanted a family. I didn't get that at Manticore. And when I saw that Jondy, the very person who got me landed with three years in Psy-Ops, had everything that I had always wanted, I just snapped, ok?" I didn't say anything, so she ploughed on. "Everything changed when I met you. I used to hate you because it seemed that your sole purpose in life was to piss me off. But then I saw the way you looked at Jondy's photo and you seemed to really love her. And when White told us to go kidnap Corey, I saw the way you laughed and joked around with Krit and Syl. I saw how much you loved Corey. It was like, seeing a completely different side to you. And Krit and Syl were really nice to me. Well, I was pretending to be Jondy, but no one had ever been nice to me before. They acted like they cared. Just being around you guys gave me a sense of warmth and safety that I had never felt before. And the way Corey looked at me, like I was the most amazing person in the whole entire world....Zane, it was really nice and I really wanted to have all that, but I knew you'd never love me so...." "You thought you'd kill Jondy and then take her place so that everything that she had would become yours," I said in a flat voice. I got it now, it made sense. She thought that I'd have no idea that Jondy died, and that I would've gone on as normal. "It's not as simple as that." "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I didn't think you'd be able to tell the difference between me and her." Tyra said a bit sadly. That was a first - the first time I'd ever seen her show some real emotion. She seemed more human. In a way, it was good, but it was also bad - it was more difficult to hate someone with feelings. I found myself actually feeling a little sorry for her. Just a little. All she wanted was to feel safe, loved and happy. I knew the feeling. But that didn't justify what she did to Jondy. "There is a huge difference between you and her! Jondy wouldn't have carried out a plan as dumb as that one. And she's not as bloodthirsty and you." There was no real anger behind the words. I wasn't in the mood. I sat down on the nearest chair and put my head in my hands, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms so hard that bright, white dots appeared before me. "You should sleep," A familiar voice made me lift my head. Dr. Carr stood in front of me, looking concerned. "I heard some yelling in here, is everything alright?" "Yes, fine," Tyra answered for me. "That's - whoa." Dr. Carr stopped as he looked at Tyra, stunned. "That was certainly a speedy recovery. You only just got here less than two hours ago!" "Uh..." Tyra shrugged, not knowing what he was on about. I was confused as well. Then it occurred to me that Tyra was a splitting image of Jondy. I stood up. "This is Tyra. She's Jondy's clone, from Manticore." Tyra gaped at me. "He knows everything." I explained to her. "Right! You gave me quite a shock. I know you X5s are fast healers, but I didn't think it was THAT fast...." Dr. Carr's voice faded a little. I wasn't really listening to him. I recalled the day's events. I found out that Jondy had a one night stand with a man from a breeding cult. I met and made friends with a half man half dog, whose father just happened to be Sandeman. Jondy was murdered, and mysteriously came back to life again. Tyra poured her soul out to me, and until now, I hadn't even known that she had one. Yep. Weird day. ************************************************************************ A/N: If any of you guys like the TV show Alias, I have a hyperboard - alias.hyperboards.com. There's Alias discussion and fanfiction, also Dark Angel, Charmed and Gilmore Girls fanfiction. So if you want to post fanfiction there, or simply join in the discussion, be my guest! It's not much now because I just started, but I need people to get it going, I would also love for people to post their fanfic there! 


	11. Lifted Burdens

**A/N: **That was the worst case of writers block I've ever had in my life! I swear I literally did this over about ten times. So sorry about the delay. I hope you guys like it. 

****************CHAPTER ELEVEN****************

**JONDY**

_"Hey guys, I'm home!" I called down the hallway as I opened the front door. _

_"MOMMA!"__ I heard Corey yell from somewhere within the house. A tiny pitter-pattering of feet made its way towards me and seconds later, an almost two year old Corey emerged beside me, proudly holding up a picture he had drawn. "Look!" he cried, waving the picture at me. _

_I knelt down to look at it. Hmm. Strange looking, colourful blobs of crayon. _

_Corey stared at me expectantly, eagerly awaiting my verdict. He looked so anxious for my approval that I couldn't help but grin. "It's beautiful." I whispered, pulling the little boy into my arms. And I meant it. It didn't matter that Corey's drawing was an unidentifiable scribble. Too me, it was better than Monet could ever do. _

_Corey beamed. He knew that my hug meant that I loved his picture. The word 'beautiful' wasn't on his vocabulary list. After all, he was still a baby. _

_"Where's daddy?" I asked finally. _

_"Sleep."__ Corey replied, using his usual one-word sentences.  _

_"He's sleeping?" I frowned slightly. That was strange. Zane never went to sleep during the day. And more importantly, he never left Corey on his own. I picked Corey up and went to the bedroom to investigate. _

_"Daddy!"__ Corey exclaimed, pointing to where Zane was lying on the bed covered with blankets, as if he were introducing me to him for the first time. _

_I was on the verge of a reply when I took a closer look at Zane's unmoving form. My whole body froze. _

_He was covered with blood. _

_It was everywhere. Soaked into the sheets, trickling onto the floor. _

_My first reaction was to get Corey away from here. He didn't need to see this. _

_"Corey, sweetheart?"__ I said slowly, struggling to keep the fear and panic out of my voice. "How about you go and draw another picture? One of you and me and daddy in the park. We can put it on the fridge." I put him on the floor, where he motioned for me to go with him. "Mommy play?" Corey asked hopefully, oblivious to the fact that his daddy was hurt. _

_I shook my head. "Maybe later. Be a good boy, ok?" I made sure that he was safely in the living room before I rushed over to Zane to see if he was alright. _

_"Zane!__ Zane, oh, please be ok." I sat on the bed next to him, my hands shaking as a rolled him over. It took all of my willpower to keep myself from screaming. _

_He was dead. One look at his blank, staring eyes and the gunshot wound to his head, and I knew. Coldness washed over me as I clamped my hand over my mouth to muffle a sob, and slid to the floor, crying. _

_"Where's Corey, Jondy?" I heard a voice say behind me. _

_Zane! I thought, my heart soaring. He's not dead!_

_But I got up and was sorely disappointed. __Ames__ White stood at the other side of the bed. So he was the one that spoke. _

_"What are you doing in my house?" I demanded, my voice trembling slightly with grief. _

_White brought out a gun from his jacket. My gaze focused on the gun, then on my dead husband, then back at the gun. And I put two and two together. _

_"YOU KILLED HIM!" I screamed, forgetting that I didn't want Corey to know about this. "YOU KILLED ZANE, YOU BASTARD!"_

_"No, Jondy. Don't blame me for your actions," he replied calmly. _

_I was taken aback. Did I just hear him correctly? "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't kill him!" I denied angrily. _

_White ignored me. "The day you slept with me was the day you signed his death sentence. If you hadn't been such a whore, then I wouldn't have had to kill him. Therefore, his death is your fault. You killed him. Got it?" He had the nerve to smile mockingly at me before clicking off the safety on his gun and pointing it at my head. _

_"Now it's time for me to kill you, and take the kid," he finished off. I just stood there, too shocked and terrified to have the sense to move and get Corey out of the house. _

_"NO! COREY!" I shrieked just as he pulled the trigger, but the sound of the gun going off drowned out my voice. _

I jerked awake suddenly with a loud gasp, shocked by the vividness of the dream. Tears streaked my cheeks. He couldn't really be dead, could he?

"Zane....." I called, my voice trembling slightly. I'd find him. I'd find him, and then I'd know that he was safe and that my dream was just that – merely a dream. 

"Zane?!" Louder and more desperate this time. I glanced at the spot on the bed beside me, expecting to find him there, sleeping soundly. 

Only it was a single bed.

It occurred to me that I wasn't in the double bed that I usually shared with Zane at all – nor was I in our room. A wave of panic hit me. Where the hell was I?

Just as I was on the brink of hysteria, a warm hand rested against my back. I jumped slightly. I hadn't known that there was someone else in the room with me. Turning my head, I came face to face with a pair of very familiar green eyes.

"Zane!" I cried with a mixture of joy, relief and bewilderment. Staring at him, I reached out to touch his cheek, trying to convince myself that he was really there. 

Then I burst into tears, the realization that I may have lost him forever having finally sunken in. 

Zane was quick to pull me close and wrap his arms around me protectively. I crawled into his lap and sobbed into his shoulder, letting the tears run freely. 

"Shhh, it's alright. You're safe now. It's ok." His words of comfort filled my senses and slowly but surely, the terror and guilt slowly dissipated. When my sobs finally reduced to the odd sniffle every now and then, Zane placed two fingers under my chin and tilted my head up to look at him. 

I closed my eyes as he brushed my tears away with his fingertips, savoring his touch. An overwhelming urge to lay in his arms and go to sleep crept over me. 

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, after dropping a kiss on my forehead. 

I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. "Yeah. I am now."

"You wanna tell me what that was about?" It wasn't a harsh question. He said it gently, letting me know that it was perfectly ok if I declined his offer. 

"I had a bad dream, that's all." I laughed lightly, shaking my head. "It sounds so stupid now. 

Zane didn't seem to agree with me. "It must have been pretty bad. You were so scared, and upset." He paused and the look on his face told me that he had been truly worried about me. "Was it about Corey?"

The question took me by surprise. I leant back slightly so that I could get a better look at him, but remained close enough so that his arms were still wrapped around me. 

"Yes, sort of. How did you know?" I said curiously.

He gave me a strange look. "Well, with everything that's happened in the last few days, I'm not surprised that you're having nightmares about Corey. So how could I not know?"

It was my turn to look at him weirdly. "What are you talking about? What happened in the last few days?" It suddenly struck me that I had no recollection of it whatsoever. "And where are we?" I hadn't had the chance to ask before – it had been the last thing on my mind. 

"We're in hospital." Zane said slowly and incredulously. "You mean, you don't remember at all?" Not waiting for an answer, he murmured mostly to himself, "That must have been some head injury."

Meanwhile, my head was spinning. Hospital? Head injury? Ok, so that accounted for the ugly white gown. And the bandage that I suddenly realised was wrapped around my head. I lifted my hand and touched it, a little harder than I intended perhaps, as the sharp pain that pierced through my skull informed me.

I winced slightly and tried to ignore it as I turned to my husband. "Zane, please tell me what's going on."

"I don't think I can......" Zane said uncertainly.

"Please, Zane." 

Zane looked at me as if he were about to trek through a river of lava. Then he began to recall the events of the last few days.

That's when I began to regret asking him to talk. One doesn't like to be reminded of what a horrible person they are – especially when you've caused everyone you love to suffer. Memories that I wished would remain forgotten flashed before me. 

Zane was getting to the part when Corey got kidnapped, it all became too much. 

"STOP!" I yelled suddenly, startling Zane. "I remember now, so just stop it, ok?"

I untangled myself from him and sat at the opposite end of the bed, curling myself up into a ball. I was disgusted at myself. I didn't deserve to be comforted and held by him. If anything, he should've been running as far away from me as humanly possible.

"You should have just left me at the bottom of the Space Needle." I said flatly. 

"And why do you say that?" His voice was equally as blunt and unfeeling. He had silently moved to a chair beside the bed, distancing himself from me. 

So there it was again. The familiar tension. It seeped into the room, succeeding to push as further apart. Our closeness only a few moments ago was now truly a thing of the past. 

"It would have been better for you – and Corey – if you I'd have just died." I replied, meaning every word. 

"What kind of person do you think I am, Jondy?" Zane snapped. "Did you think that I was heartless enough to just leave you to die? You obviously don't know me at all."

"Maybe I don't, but you were certainly heartless enough to give our son away to some psycho-path to save your own ass." I shot back.

I felt like scum as soon as the words left my mouth. The statement wasn't entirely true – it hadn't been to save his own ass – but it shut him up. I'd known that he blamed himself one hundred percent for Corey's kidnapping, and it cut him so deeply. I had used that to my advantage, and it made me sick. 

When had I become so manipulative? At what point in time had I become so despicable that I'd purposely hurt someone that I loved so much?

I searched Zane's face for some flicker of emotion, but he stared steadfastly out the window. 

I honestly couldn't say why I was picking a fight with him. He had done absolutely nothing wrong – and now because of my hateful mouth, I could feel him closing himself off from me. Putting up the walls. Possibly forever. 

Perhaps we were too good at concealing our emotions. It was truly a time in our lives when we desperately, desperately, needed each other. For comfort, for strength, or simply for the sole purpose of knowing we weren't in this alone. But instead of growing closer, I found that we were growing apart. Neither of us knew what to say to the other, nor did we know what the other wanted to hear. And we both too damn stubborn to admit it. 

What made it all the more worse was that, because of our lack of communication, Corey would be put in even more danger. How could we help him if we couldn't even get along?

"What's happening to us?" I thought out loud. "We never used to fight like this."

"You tell me!" Zane piped up from his seat, exasperated. "You started this!"

"I know." I sighed, rubbing my eyes tiredly. My previous anger had drained away completely, and I suddenly found that I wanted to explain myself. If I didn't make things right with Zane, I'd lose him.

"I'm sorry about what I said before." I began in a small voice. "I don't know what came over me. And I wasn't trying say that you're heartless and that leave me to die. That's not what I meant at all. Things just got a little out of hand, and I shouldn't have let it."

Zane seemed somewhat relieved by my apology and by the fact that I hadn't implied what he thought I did. "What did you mean then?" His tone had lost all harshness.     

"You know that I love you and Corey and that I want you both to be safe. What I meant was, well......" I paused, debating whether I should say what I was about to say next. Then I decided it was for the best. "Maybe it would be better if I weren't around."

"What – what are you saying, Jondy?" Zane asked, puzzled. A look of apprehension clouded his features.

There was no turning back now. "Ever since that thing with Ames White a few years ago, I've constantly been putting you and Corey in danger," I explained. "First when those guys came after us and we had to go on the run, then you got caught by Manticore and now Corey's gone......none of that would have happened if it weren't for me. It's my fault that Corey's been kidnapped. Every bit of pain and suffering you had to endure at Manticore and since you escaped, is entirely my doing." I took in a deep breath and blew it out again, relieved that I'd finally gotten that out in the open. Not that Zane didn't know any of that already – he was just too polite to say anything. 

"But I don't blame you for that Jondy......" He still looked adorably confused. I didn't think that he knew what I was getting at. 

"You don't have to blame me, Zane. Every time I see you hurting because of me is more than enough blame. It's ten times worse. That's why I want you to promise to take Corey and get as far away from me as you possibly can when we get him back." 

No! Stop! Take that back right now! My heart screamed. You'll never find someone like him again! 

Don't be stupid, my head snapped back. Tyra was right; you don't deserve someone like him. You owe him this.

Although this would be the most heartbreaking decision I'd ever had to make, I knew which part of me I had to listen to – my head.

"WHAT!? NO!" Zane shot up in his chair, looking well and truly aghast. 

"Zane, this is only going to get worse!" I hastily defended my decision before he completely disagreed with me. "Maybe it will be safer for both of you if we went separate ways. I'm the only one who should be dealing with the consequences of my actions, not you."

"But – but – you can't go!" he stammered, trying to find something to say. "What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"

"Canada? Mexico? SPAIN? I don't know! Just away from you guys, and hopefully White will follow me." Hopefully. I didn't know what else to do if this didn't work.

"What about Corey? You can't leave Corey. You're his mom, he needs you," Zane tried, panic settling into his eyes. 

"No, he doesn't. All Corey needs is you." It was true. Zane was such a good father. 

"Then what about me? Don't you want to be with me?" he said softly, the same sadness that I was feeling creeping into his eyes.

"Of course I do," I insisted, shocked that he would think otherwise. "Leaving you is the last thing I want to do."

"THEN DON'T!" he burst out, suddenly angry and upset. "I can't believe you're making such a rash decision without even telling me!"

"What do you think I'm doing now?" I exclaimed. 

"No, no, no, no. I mean, have you even thought about this? Really, really thought about it?" 

I hadn't, actually. I was so bent on trying to ensure that Zane and Corey would be alright that the harsh reality of what I was proposing had not fully sunken in. I was going to leave them. It seemed quite stupid really, getting them both back only to give them away again. Was I capable of doing that? I didn't want to be alone, but Zane and Corey's happiness would be well worth it. Yes, I could do it; even it meant that they'd get on with their live without me – and possibly with someone else. 

Tears suddenly stung my eyes at the thought of Corey calling someone else "Mommy", at the thought of Zane looking at another woman the way he used to look at me – and I wondered if, one day, years from now, I'd be a distant and unimportant memory and the very back of their minds. 

I quickly blinked away the tears. Ok. Indifference. Detachment. That was the only way I could do this without falling apart. 

"There's just got to be another way, Jon." Zane pondered, breaking into my thoughts. "We can lose Ames White, I know we can, we just have to stay on the run that's all –"

"And what kind of life would that be for Corey? The only time that he should be on the run is when he's playing 'Cops and Robbers' in the park with his friends." Why are you fighting me with this Zane? I said to him silently. Don't you know how badly I wish for there to be another way? 

"Remember in the hospital when I was about to have Corey?" I reminded him. 

He nodded, wondering what I was getting at.

"Remember we promised each other that no matter what, we'd make sure that Corey would have a normal childhood?" I continued. 

Silence. Then, "Yes," he whispered.

"No matter what, Zane." I repeated softly, emphasizing my point. Even if it meant being apart.

He nodded again, his eyes so sad that I wanted to pull him into my arms. But I couldn't. I was afraid that once I did, I wouldn't be able to let go. I could feel him giving in; I could feel the fight draining out of him. What I couldn't figure out was why he was fighting at all. After all I'd put him through you'd think that he couldn't wait to get rid of me. 

There was a long pause where Zane seemed to be having an internal struggle. 

"Would you miss me?" he asked finally. There was no denying the innocent hope in his voice. 

Lie to him, I told myself. Say that you won't miss him and maybe he'll let you go. I opened my mouth, but I couldn't say no. I just couldn't. The pain I knew would flash across his face was more than I could bear.

"Yes," I answered truthfully. "But it's going to be ok sweetheart, I promise." Sweetheart. Huh. It was strange how easily that term of endearment came to my lips when I was talking to him. 

All of a sudden, Zane said in a small voice, "No it's not." His voice was thick with tears as he stared at his hands, not letting me look at him. "How can it be ok if we're both miserable? Only yesterday I thought you were dead and I was so scared that I'd never see you again and now you're back and I can't lose you. Not again. I don't think I can cope." He finally looked up and I was shocked to find that his eyes were filled with tears. "I know I'm supposed to stay strong but I can't do this alone. I need you. I love you so much and I don't want you to go. Please......I don't know what else to say to make you stay......."

My heart broke. This had to stop. I had to stop hurting him like this. I knew from that moment that if there was anything I could do for Zane to make up for what I'd done, it would be to stay right by his side. 

"Oh, Zane." I whispered sympathetically. I'd never seen him so lost and vulnerable. Fuck it, I thought. I couldn't pretend that I didn't care, when I did. How could I possibly leave him after he'd told me that he needed me? How could I deny him the love he deserved?

I reached for him. "Come here."  

Right at that moment Zane's brave composure began to crumble right before my eyes. He stood from his chair and practically collapsed into my arms, burying his head into my chest. I held him as tightly as I could, pouring all my love into him, afraid that if I didn't, the loneliness he had been feeling would destroy him. 

Warm tears seeped through the fabric of my hospital gown onto my skin. He's crying, I realised. I'd made him cry, and until now I had never seen him cry before.

"I'm sorry." I breathed, rocking him gently. "I'm so sorry baby." Unable to stop a tear from sliding down my cheek, I found myself crying too. I cried with him and for him, for everything we'd both been through. 

Zane climbed onto the bed with me, slipping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him. I leant back onto the pillow, bringing him down with me, our arms still wrapped around each other. All he wanted was for me to hold him – I knew that now – and that was the best form of comfort I had to offer him. 

Time passed and exhaustion eventually sent Zane to sleep. I ran my fingers through his hair lightly while he slept, just to let him know I was still there. Not long after, I drifted off to sleep as well.   

***********************************************

When I awoke I found my body spooned against his, with Zane keeping one protective arm around me. I took his hand and smiled to myself, realising how much I missed waking up next to him. I was so happy that we had sorted out our issues – I felt as if I had been relieved of an enormous load, and somehow the future seemed so much brighter now that I knew Zane would be here. We'd get Corey back, I knew we would. And we'd do it together. There was no way Ames White was going to take our son away from us. 

Carefully I rolled over to face Zane, who was still asleep. With his shoulders tensed and his eyebrows knitted together, he seemed to be in the middle of a bad dream. 

I frowned with worry. "Hey, it's just a dream." I soothed him, reaching over to touch his cheek. "It's ok." 

Zane sighed in his sleep, his features relaxing at my touch. I sat up and watched him, hoping that he'd sleep peacefully. He needed it more than I did. 

"Hey, Jondy," someone said softly from behind me. 

I turned around. Max was standing at the doorway. "Hey," I smiled. 

"Wow. I can't believe you actually got him to sleep." Max motioned toward Zane. "It's a miracle."

"It wasn't so hard." I grabbed a blanket and draped it over him to keep him warm. It was cold in Seattle. "He's exhausted." 

"Well, we tried to get him to sleep, but all he wanted to do was sit with you and wait till you woke up." Max informed me. 

That's so sweet of him, I thought. "Stubborn, isn't he." I grinned knowingly.

"Hell yes," she agreed, sitting on the edge of the bed. "So, are you guys ok? I mean......relationship wise?"

She sounded so much like a shrink that I wanted to laugh, but I also wanted to hug her for caring so much. "Yes. We talked about it and it took a while, but everything's ok now."

Max's dark eyes lit up. "Good. Coz I haven't had the chance to see you two act like a real couple, you know?" she shrugged. "Like Krit and Syl. I still can't believe they're together. If they're not ready to kill each other, they can't keep their hands off one another. It's crazy. And that's what I want you guys to do – act all lovey-dovey. I want you to make me sick, ok?"

I giggled. "Yes Mom."

Zane suddenly stirred beside me. I bit my lip and Max clamped her hand over her mouth as we exchanged guilty glances. Sometimes we got a little carried away, not realising how loud we were when we talked. But what else could be expected? After all, we were sisters.

"I better go before I wake Zane up." Max said, a little softer this time. She got up and was about to leave when, to my surprise, she hugged me tightly. "I'm so glad you're ok. You gave us a real scare. I was really upset that we didn't get to spend that much time together.......and Zane – he took it so badly. I'm just so happy that you're back."

"Thanks Maxie." I whispered, hugging her back. 

Then she pulled away, her eyes shining with unshed tears – something I didn't see very often – and left. As soon as I lost sight of her, I turned back to Zane to find him gazing up at me sleepily. 

My eyes widened. "Oh, I'm so sorry! We woke you up......"

"What a horrible crime you've committed, waking me up like that." Zane murmured, only half awake. "You must be punished."

I laid my head next to his on the pillow and the way he placed his hand on the small of my back and pulled me towards him told me that he wasn't really mad at all. 

"Have a bit of mercy on an injured woman," I pleaded playfully.

"Hmmm, well I might consider it. It really depends......." he began, looking down at my mouth. 

A grin spread across my face, suspecting what might come next. "Depends on what?"

"On whether or not I get a kiss from you." 

"Sounds like a fair deal." I concurred. I loved the way he made me feel so beautiful, even when I was wearing a hideous hospital gown and looked like a walking, talking bruise. Leaning forward, I caressed one side of his face and kissed him long and hard.

I finally pulled back, marveling at how good it felt to kiss him again. He stole another kiss before allowing me to speak.

"Did you like that?" I know I did, I thought to myself.

"Oh yeah," he nodded, now fully awake. "Would love to do that again sometime soon." He paused. "Ok, how about now?"

I laughed. Teasingly I brushed my lips against his, pulling away just as he leaned forward to deepen the kiss. Zane gave me a mock glare. Then realization seemed to strike him.

"Hey....you're still here. Does that mean you're not going?"

"I'm not going anywhere unless you ask me to."

Zane's face broke out into a shy but happy smile, and I was glad to finally make him smile again instead of making him cry. "I'm glad."

"Me too." I replied – and I really was. There was so much I had to say to him; really important things that I never would have had the chance to say if I'd left – including this. "Zane?"

"Yes?"

"I never got to thank you."

Zane propped his head up with his elbow. "Thank me? For what?"

"For what?" I echoed incredulously. "For thousands of things. For saving my life. For still wanting to be with me despite everything I've put you through, and for........for staying with me when I needed you." I finished, remembering how Zane calmed my fears at the bottom of the Space Needle when I had been so frightened of dying alone. "That was more than I was going to do for you." I lowered my gaze.

"Hey," he said softly, stroking my hair. "Jondy. Hey, look at me."

I slowly lifted my eyes to his.

"You're here now. That's all that matters. And I know you'd do all of those things for me in a second," he assured me gently. 

I nodded, comforted by his words. But there was something else I needed to say. 

"Can you ever forgive me Zane?" I whispered, not sure if I was ready for the answer. "I mean, I know you can't forgive me now, or even next year, but could you? Eventually? I'm not saying that you have to." I added hastily. "I guess I just wanted to say that I'm so, so sorry, I really am -"

Zane silenced me with a kiss. What we were talking about was momentarily forgotten and I was disappointed when it ended so fast.

"I know you're sorry. And of course I forgive you. But I don't blame you for any of this. Honestly. I mean, firstly, you were in heat. Secondly, how were you supposed to know that the one random guy you picked was going to be a freaky breeding cult.........person........thing," he said, struggling with a word to describe Ames White. 

I gaped at him. He'd forgiven me? He didn't blame me for any of this? That was so much more than I deserved. 

"Zane......." I shook my head, speechless. "You're too good to me, you know that, right?"

He grinned at me.

Suddenly, the shrill sound of a phone ringing cut through the air. 

"Where's that coming from?" I sat up and looked around. It sounded very close – right next to me, in fact - but I couldn't see a phone anywhere.

Zane seemed to be frozen in place, a look of dread on his face.

I touched him arm. "Zane? What's wrong?"

Slowly, he put his hand in his jacket and drew out a cell phone, which so happened to be ringing.

"Where'd you get that?" I demanded.

"Ames White. He gave this to me before me and Tyra went to Syl and Krit's house. He said he'd ring me when he found out whether or not I'm........Corey's dad," he replied, oblivious to the ringing.

"Well, pick it up!" I yelped. Ames White? If he didn't tell us were Corey was.......

"Hello?" Zane said into the phone, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. I took his hand and squeezed it gently.

"205!" I heard White exclaim as if he were greeting an old friend. "How are we?"

"What do you want?" Zane snapped. 

"I have some good news and bad news for you, Zane. The kid's yours, believe it or not -" 

Zane's eyes widened. "Did you hear that?" he mouthed at me, visibly overjoyed. 

I nodded, my heart almost bursting with excitement. That was fantastic! 

But what was the bad news?

"- but unfortunately, you can't have him back." 

"WHAT!?" Zane yelled, voicing exactly what I was thinking. The good feelings were now gone.

"You didn't keep your end of the bargain. I specifically told you that I'd give Corey back only if you gave him to me yourself. And from what I recall, you tried to escape with him, didn't you? I had to knock all of you out and send some Familiars to go and get him."

Zane shut his eyes, realising his mistake. "Look, you don't even need Corey. What are you going to do with him? Just give him back to us. Please," he said, trying to negotiate.

"That's right, I don't need Corey. But I do need something else. I'll be willing to give Corey back unharmed, if you get it to me."

Zane and I straightened simultaneously, eager to do anything to get Corey back.

"Well, tell me what it is. I'll do anything." 

"I want to swap Corey for Jondy. You give me Jondy, I'll give you Corey."

I was slightly taken aback. Me? What for? But I didn't question it for long. Of course we'd do it. When we said anything, we meant anything. 

"No, absolutely not." Zane said immediately. "That's out of the question."

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him. "Tell him yes!"

"No!" Zane cried. "Are you insane?"

"I have to go! This is the only way we're gonna get Corey back-"

"No it's not-"

"So do we have a deal?" White cut in.

It was obvious that Zane wasn't going to give in. So I took things into my own hands. 

I snatched the phone away from Zane. "Yes, we have a deal."   


End file.
